Wine – UK’s only Budget victim

The UK’s Budget held back on duty increases for beer and spirits but wine was not so fortunate, being due for an increase in excise tax in line with inflation from 1st February next year.

However the UK Chancellor Philip Hammond did introduce a higher rate of taxation for “so-called white ciders” while he introduced a cut in business rates by one third for small businesses including pubs until a revaluation can be carried out in 2021.

Reaction to the raising of excise on wine was predictable from the Wine & Spirits Trade Association who called the singling out of wine for more excise as “grossly unfair, unjustified and counter-productive”.

The WSTA’s Chief Executive Miles Beale described it as “a hammer blow” to the wine trade, adding, “It actively undermines a sector that has been hardest hit since the Brexit Referendum and will be thoroughly unwelcome for the 33 million consumers of the nation’s most popular alcoholic drink”.