Wednesday October 27, 2021
Help for troubled industries
Britain is making beer cheaper
Things could soon be a lot cheaper in the British nightlife: To support the battered pubs and restaurants, taxes on beer and other alcoholic beverages will be reduced. The same applies to taxes on UK domestic flights. The climate shouldn’t suffer as a result.
Good news for pub-goers and beer drinkers in the UK: The government is cutting taxes on draft beers, ciders and sparkling wines. Finance Minister Rishi Sunak wants to revitalize the catering industry after the corona pandemic, as he announced in Parliament in London. The average price for a pint of beer drops by three pence.
A planned tax increase for beer, whiskey, wine and cider has also been stopped. This corresponds to a tax cut of three billion pounds (3.55 billion euros), said Sunak when presenting the budget. On the other hand, the tax on drinks with more alcohol is to increase. The industry welcomed the announcement. She regularly complains that the alcohol tax in the UK is significantly higher than in many other countries.
Less taxes on UK domestic flights
Gastronomy is not the only industry that can look forward to more support. In order to boost the domestic economy, the UK government is also lowering taxes on domestic flights. “Currently, people are paying more for round-trip flights between the four parts of the country than for home flights from abroad,” said Finance Minister Sunak.
A few days before the start of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, he announced that he would reduce the passenger tax for these connections from April 2023. At the same time, the costs for very long long-distance flights from 5500 miles (8850 kilometers) should rise. “Less than five percent of passengers will pay less, but those who fly the farthest will pay more,” Sunak said in parliament. The minister said the government was helping to reduce emissions.
“Most of the emissions come from international rather than UK domestic flights,” Sunak said. The change should benefit nine million passengers as well as the regional airports. The project is also seen as an attempt to strengthen ties between the different parts of the United Kingdom. In Scotland in particular, calls for separation from London have been louder again since Brexit. The opposition criticized the announcement. “At least the champagne-sipping bankers on short-haul flights will cheer this budget,” said Labor finance expert Rachel Reeves.