Cheaper Booze!

starbelgrade

Excise duty on alcohol reduced - 12 cent cut on beer and cider, 14 cent cut on a measure of spirits, 60 cent cut on a bottle of wine (no change in tobacco).

At least it'll be cheaper to drown your sorrows!

Dob74

WTF
A&E will be busy with all the drunks needing there stomachs pumped and all the street fighting.
Way to go.

BroomBurner

They put €1 on wine last year, now taking off 60c. Big deal.

Trying to stem the flow up North, is all. It's symptomatic of a country that is more interested in capital expenditure in the here and now, and less in mitigating the effects of substance abuse for future savings.

freelancerTax

wow 12 f-ing cent that wont be passed on to the customer i bet....

bmaxi

I'm sure publicans will be delighted with the extra 12c profit on a pint.

nouveau_4.0

When does it come into effect? I would really love a bottle of wine!

Captain Chaos

I can see pubs leaving the prices as they are and just pocketing the extra profit. Just like when Bulmers dropped their RRP price this year, a lot of pubs just pocketed the change.

RGS

What an idiotic move.

We have a significant problem with cross border shopping and instead of reducing the VAT rate here to a proper level, which would reduce the prices of most products here we appease the FF friends, the publicans, with a reduction in excise duty.

Recent survey revealed 44% go north for booze therefore 56% go north for groceries and other items---so we appease the minority and not the majority---.

Patser

Lenihan distinctly said if he saw evidence of this NOT being passed on, he would reverse his decision. More interesting to watch is the half % VAT decrease which comes in 1st January. Lots of places raised prices when that rise came in last year, how many will drop it when it goes.

Tipsy Mac

It's so low the lads up North must be loving it

MI5

RGS wrote: »

What an idiotic move.

We have a significant problem with cross border shopping and instead of reducing the VAT rate here to a proper level, which would reduce the prices of most products here we appease the FF friends, the publicans, with a reduction in excise duty.

Recent survey revealed 44% go north for booze therefore 56% go north for groceries and other items---so we appease the minority and not the majority---.

Whenever you see RTE etc, interviewing southern shoppers doing their shop up north, it seems to me that the trolly is 70% booze and balance groceries!! MAybe it's just me, but thet's what I see anyway.

zootroid

I can see it being passed on for off licence drink, but not in pubs.

Remember in the past, any time excise duty was increased, the pubs also increased their prices to "protect their margins"? Fat chance of the reverse happening now. Even if pubs reduce their prices a little, or even the entire 12c, their margins will still remain higher as they wont reduce their prices to keep their margins constant this time.

bmaxi

Patser wrote: »

Lenihan distinctly said if he saw evidence of this NOT being passed on, he would reverse his decision. More interesting to watch is the half % VAT decrease which comes in 1st January. Lots of places raised prices when that rise came in last year, how many will drop it when it goes.

Who is going to police this? Rhetoric from Lenihan, the only way this could be even remotely policed is to bring in a maximum price order, publicans are well known for their ability to rise with the boats but not to fall.
Personally, I think this is a shameful decision, far better to have put 12c on to the price of drink. In my local area I see very little evidence that the point of diminishing returns has, or ever will be reached.

smndly

14c off a measure of spirits... So what does that mean for a bottle of spirits from an off license??

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

1huge1

This is just more of a publicity stunt to stem the amount of people going up north. Might work too.

lynchie

smndly wrote: »

14c off a measure of spirits... So what does that mean for a bottle of spirits from an off license??

14c per 3.5cl so 2.80 a 70cl bottle.

freelancerTax

i think your dreaming you really think publicans will pass this on... besides there is NO way that the drop can be checked.... there is no standard price on a pint.

killbillvol2

How the fcuk is 12c off a pint supposed to have an effect on people going up north?
Firstly they tend to drink at home and secondly 12c isn't going to massively close the gap in prices.
A stupid publicity stunt which will work on the moronic electorate that put these cretins in for a third term.

Dannyboy83

On drivetime, they said a bottle costing €25 here costs €15 in the North.

This does not provide an alternative choice!
Just means those who have already have no choice (Munster) will pay a little less, while those who have the choice will continue to go up North.

I'm sick of reiterating this , but I'll say it once more:
€750m was lost to contraband cigarettes last year, with the biggest EU hauls of illegal cigarettes and tobacco found at the start of November and Mid November respectively, and 1 in 3 cigarettes smoked in Ireland 2010 will be contraband.

If you want to prevent smuggling, crime and loss of revenue; you decrease the price by €2, from €8.45 down to €6.45.
Now those contraband cigarettes selling for €4.50 per box are no longer attractive.
Result:
0.15 in 4 cigarettes smoked in Ireland 2010 are contraband
€700million gained in new revenue - by affording an alternative choice to those who are determined to smoke regardless.

Implement that with alcohol and you will see a similar effect.
We passed the point of diminishing returns with excise duties a long time ago, the threshold now looks like a little dot from up here.

We happen to have the biggest international carrier in the world terrorizing the airline industry with the same business strategy for a numbers of years now.
All the government are doing is (a) losing their ability to regulate by driving the customers elsewhere and (b) massively stimulating an artificial black market.

viking

Curious to know if the 12c reduction is also on cans in off-licences.

Either way, the pubs wont pass this on and even if Lenihan decides that he will revoke the reduction it'll probably be the next budget when he does it which means 12 months of extra profit for the publicans... they'll be quite happy with that I'm sure.

Tipsy Mac

Fine Gael and Labour voted against the move to reduce excise duty on booze, they seem to believe that having the highest excise duty in the EU on alcohol is a deterent to boozing...

Independents Maureen O’Sullivan, Finian McGrath and former Fianna Fáil TD Joe Behan voted with Fine Gael and Labour who opposed the alcohol tax cut, which comes into effect at midnight.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1209/breaking101.htm

KeyLimePie

RGS wrote: »

Recent survey revealed 44% go north for booze therefore 56% go north for groceries and other items---so we appease the minority and not the majority---.

.........sorry what ? 56% of the country goes up north for their grocery shopping surely you're bending the facts here


and just so people know the reduction in VAT rate did virtually nothing to help with the UK economy and their putting it back up again..

RGS

KeyLimePie wrote: »

.........sorry what ? 56% of the country goes up north for their grocery shopping surely you're bending the facts here


and just so people know the reduction in VAT rate did virtually nothing to help with the UK economy and their putting it back up again..

I'm not bending the facts--these were the results of a recent survey of northern shoppers.

starbelgrade

I said yesterday in the Budget predictions thread that complaining would go up by at least 50% today - I wasn't wrong! I even think that there'd be LESS moaning if the price of a pint had gone UP instead of down!!

aurelius79

KeyLimePie wrote: »

.........sorry what ? 56% of the country goes up north for their grocery shopping surely you're bending the facts here


and just so people know the reduction in VAT rate did virtually nothing to help with the UK economy and their putting it back up again..

I believe the statistics apply to those people who travel north to shop, not everyone in the country.

56% of the people who shop in the north go to buy groceries, the others just buy drink. Even then, I'm pretty sure those that just buy booze will also grab any food that will fit in the car. I live in Leitrim between Sligo and Enniskillen. Our town is completely dead because all the money goes up north. The only places that make money are the pubs and the one local Centra.

andrewdeerpark

Local pub charges 4.10euro for a guinness so is this going to 3.98euro? Surely the VFI have the cop on to realise they should match the government reduction take 25cent off the pint and 30cent off spirits.

Pubs are dying on their feet and this is their last chance saloon.

Over to you VFI and LVA?

hobochris

When I herd about the drink in the budget, First thing that popped into my head was this:


Otto Cowen: Um, how are we going to get out of here?
Homer Lenihan: We'll digDrink our way out!
WiggumCowen: No, digDrink _up_, stupid.

snaps

when does this come into effect? jan 1st? can't see it being passed on and I will still go north for my goods. saved 450e on a tv this year by buying it in belfast

RandolphEsq

Captain Chaos wrote: »

I can see pubs leaving the prices as they are and just pocketing the extra profit. Just like when Bulmers dropped their RRP price this year, a lot of pubs just pocketed the change.

We should name and shame those pubs as well as the pubs that do not drop their prices

bmaxi

RandolphEsq wrote: »

We should name and shame those pubs as well as the pubs that do not drop their prices

Been there, tried that.
Not possible to shame people who have no shame.