Sipping a cold beer, poured straight from the tap at your local pub could become a little more expensive this week as venues grapple with the twice-yearly 'tax hike' on draught beer.
With venues already struggling with diminished returns due to lockdowns, Covid-19 restrictions and changing consumer travel and entertainment habits, many are now calling for tax relief, instead of the usual increase.
Organisations including the Australian Hotels Association, Clubs Australia and the Brewers Association have launched a national campaign to slash the tax levy on beer kegs from $70 to $35.
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The group said Australia has the fourth-highest tax on beer in the world, behind only Norway, Finland and Japan.
Queensland Hotels Association chief executive, Bernie Hogan, said the 50 per cent tax cut on the current excise rate would reduce the price of a schooner by approximately 35 cents.
"Twice a year for 35 years, pubs and drinkers have copped a tax hike on draught beer," he said.
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"This year - after our members have done the right thing throughout the pandemic and at a time when jobs and businesses hang in the balance - we ask that pubs and drinkers get a break.
"Every beer poured in a glass through pubs and clubs creates local jobs, brings people together and enlivens communities."
Brewers Association of Australia's chief executive, John Preston, also called on the Federal Government to give pubs and clubs a fighting chance in the upcoming Budget.
"We are very concerned that on February 1, Australian beer drinkers will cop the biggest tax increase in more than a decade - it's not right and it's not sustainable," he said.
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"Other countries have been reducing their tax on draught beer to give pubs and beer drinkers a break."
Figures from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) released by the Brewers Association show draught beer sales from July to September 2021 were down by 40 million pints - or over 50 per cent - compared to the same period in 2019.
"These figures show that the damage to our pubs and clubs from the pandemic actually worsened last year," Preston added.
"On average, beer sales are around 70 per cent of alcohol sales volumes in licensed premises, and a drop of this severity has hit pubs and clubs incredibly hard."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy