Beer drinkers brace for second price hike in six months as tax on schooners climbs in line with inflation

The price of beer and spirits will rise for the second time in six months, sparking warnings the price of a schooner could soon surge beyond $12. The alcohol tax is linked to inflation, which earlier this week saw the highest annual leap since 1990. Increasing for the fourth consecutive quarter, the Consumer Price Index saw a year-on-year national increase of 7.8 per cent. As a result, beer drinkers can expect the tax on draught and packaged beer to rise by 3.7 per cent or about $1.50 more per slab. It comes after a 4 per cent increase in August and brings the total hike to almost 8 per cent in just six months. Australians now pay the fourth highest beer tax in the world behind Japan, Finland and Norway. In a letter to Treasurer Jim Chalmers – seen by The Daily Telegraph – the Brewers Association of Australia (BAA) has warned the Federal Government that the schooner price could soon blow out. cost $12 in a club or pub. “People are already paying $8 a schooner in parts of Sydney — if this keeps rising like this it will soon be surging past $12,” Brewers Association boss John Preston. In WA, where pints are more commonly drunk, a schooner costs between $8 to $10 in the suburbs. At Scarborough’s The Sandbar a schooner of Swan Draught is $9.50, while at the The Stables in the CBD it’s $10. In Mandurah, at the Brewvino Bar a schooner of Carlton Dry costs $10 and at The Sporting Globe Bar & Grill in Rockingham a Swan Draught is $8.40. The BAA has urged the Government to freeze the tax on beer sold in bottle shops for at least two years and to halve the beer tax paid on tap beer in pubs and clubs. “These are hidden tax increases which have been going up every six months for the past 20 years,” Mr Preston said. “The record increases are making it more difficult to get people back through the door.” According to data compiled by BAA in 2020, Australians were already paying $1.59 in tax per litre of draught beer — and $2.26 per litre for packaged beer. US drinkers at the time were paying just 31¢ in tax per litre of beer while those in Germany were shelling out just 13¢. Beer in Norway attracted a tax of $3.62 per litre. Inflation has skyrocketed since the start of 2022 fuelled by the Ukraine war which sent the price of oil and gas soaring.