Tuesday 9th March 1999

1999 Budget Excise Duties
Brown acused of political cynicism

The Chancellor of the Exchequer decision to freeze excise duties on alcohol while raising them on tobacco is an exercise in political cynicism, the IAS said.

If the problem of smuggling is not to be a;llowed to undermine health policy on tobacco, as the Chancellor asserted, then why is it to be allowed to undermine health policy on alcohol? The argument is exactly the same.

This is further evidence, the IAS said, that the Government has been nobbled by the alcohol industry. The Chancellor's decision, along with other Government proposals bodes ill for the national strategy to reduce alcohol misuse that it is supposed to be drawing up. While having little, if any, effect on smuggling. Gordon Brown's decision indicates that the Government has no serious intention of tackling alcohol misuse. Indeed, it seems set on encouraging it.

Further information on this subject can be found in IAS Factsheet Alcohol: Tax Price and Public Health, is available in pdf format.