Fine Gael to ban below cost selling of alcohol

Atlantic Dawn

Not sure what the plans of the other parties are but Fine Gael are planning on banning the below cost selling of alcohol, this is yet another protectionist approach to the market that only ends up with the consumer being penalised.

Page 24 of this document "Extra VAT yield from banning below cost selling of alcohol"
http://www.finegael2011.com/pdf/LessWasteLowerTaxesStrongerGrowth.pdf

dlofnep

It's expensive enough to drink here as it is. Ugh.

phasers

What is below cost? I assume cheap booze from lidl/aldi wouldn't be affected by this, as surely they sell at some kind of a profit. Is it the special offers that supermarkets have? Either way it's crappy, just wondering what will actually be affected.

ScumLord

Well that ****ed up their election. Screw them.

veryangryman

Fecks sake - i lumped a ton of cash on this guy to become new Taoiseach

Enda, stop saying things to make yourself unpopular - it makes me sad

Rabies

phasers wrote: »

What is below cost? I assume cheap booze from lidl/aldi wouldn't be affected by this, as surely they sell at some kind of a profit. Is it the special offers that supermarkets have? Either way it's crappy, just wondering what will actually be affected.

Some supermarket chains sell alcohol at a loss to attract in buyers and make it back up on impulse purchases.

Cookie_Monster

What their reasoning behind it, or is it just protectionism once again?

TheZohanS

We either have a f**king free market or we don't. Fianna Fail protect the bond holders, banks and developers and now Fine Gael are protecting the publicans.

Sulmac

The Joe Duffy crowd win again.

Nodin

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

What their reasoning behind it, or is it just protectionism once again?

A cross between protectionism and Nanny-in-a-blue-shirt statism, I'd imagine.

Nodin

Sulmac wrote: »

The Joe Duffy crowd win again.

Joeeeeeee, de peeeple next door joeeeee, der having de sex joeeeeee,
why should dey joeeeee, I'm not gettin any joeeeeeee.......

I think they call them 'wowsers' in Australia.

Morag

It's to protect pubs and offies. Supermarkets are the ones who'd do below 'cost' on their bulk bought discounted beer/wine so they still make tiny % on it but they make the money on the bulk sales and the other stuff which people will by when they are lured in by the price of the cheap drink.

Pubs and offies can't compete with that so the Irish Vintners are raising a strop.

It would be intresting to see how much in 'donations' the Irish Vintners have paid to all the political parties.

Azureus

This is just gona raise the whole pub debate again...
Not that there's much of a debate imo, make it worthwhile to come into your pub and I will buy drinks there. Dont and Ill buy in the supermarket/offie and drink at home.

I would not be a happy bunny if they brought this in!

El Siglo

Such a load of bollocks.

phasers

I wonder if we'll ever see the emergence of "chain pubs" like Weatherspoons in the UK? It'd be interesting to see how publicans react to that!

AnonymousPrime

Whats wrong with this? 20 bottles of stella for €10 was criminal anyway

El Siglo

Nodin wrote: »

A cross between protectionism and Nanny-in-a-blue-shirt statism, I'd imagine.

FYP;)

Cicero

So, next STG weakens against Euro even slightly, people will have ample excuse to go back up North and spend even more money out of state...clever move FG, clever move....!

wyndham

Thats only the tip of the iceberg: From the same page:

Increases in standard rate of VAT to 22% in 2012 and 23% in 2013

Increases in motor tax (€50 increase in bands A-D and ‘under 2,000cc’; &
€100 increase on E-G; and over 2,001cc)

25c increase in a pack of cigarettes in 2012, plus 50% cut in lost taxes from
cigarette smuggling through industry-financed port scanners
€1 increase in excise duty on a bottle of wine by 2014
Extra VAT yield from banning below cost selling of alcohol
Capital Acquisitions Tax - increase rate from 25% to 30%
Capital Gains Tax - increase rate from 25% to 30% (excluding SME equity investment)
Increase second home tax to €300 per annnum
Auctioning of Carbon Allowances for Power Generation and other Industrial
Uses from 2013 (assuming carbon price of €25 per tonne)
Increase in the carbon tax to €20 per tonne in 2012, and to €25 per tonne by
2014 (with an exemption for farm diesel)
An environmental tax on packaging (as per Comhar recommendation)

Increase in mortgage interest relief to 30% for First Time Buyers in 2004-08,
combined with abolition of relief for new buyers from June 2011

Fortune_Cookie

Well they ain't getting my bloody vote then. And I don't see why the pubs & off licences can't buy in bulk and sell the drink cheap like the supermarkets do. Like the big chain ones like Molloy's and all the pubs the Fitzgerald Group owns should be able to do that.

Cicero

wyndham wrote: »

Thats only the tip of the iceberg: From the same page:

thanks...you've reminded me why it's so important to read all this crap coming in my letterbox before I vote another bunch of idiots into power.

Duckworth_Luas

Fortune_Cookie wrote: »

Well they ain't getting my bloody vote then.

Great to see some people have their priorities straight. God forbid we'd ever have to pay the recommended retail price for alcohol. This is feckin Ireland, it's our right to get pi$$ed all the time.

Celly Smunt

at least my girlfriend won't have anymore black eyes i suppose

Wibbs

Cicero wrote: »

thanks...you've reminded me why it's so important to read all this crap coming in my letterbox before I vote another bunch of idiots into power.

Quoted for truth. Between this and the bollocks about non compulsory Irish for the LC the Gaelers are as bloody usual avoiding the real questions. It would be nice if that crooked headed leader of theirs actually showed up and debated the real issues once in a while without looking like a stuttering fool. And bear in mind Cic these eejits are just going to walk into their cushy pensions jobs.. It would nearly have me looking at the shinners. Naw only kidding. Scary stuff, but not that scary yet. Though it could go that way. Wait'll the IMF (and the EU) starts asset stripping public companies into private hands. Look to Greece at the moment...

Cicero

Wibbs wrote: »

. It would nearly have me looking at the shinners. Naw only kidding.

Ironically, that's what these policy documents are going to lead an increasing amount of voters to do........while I don't believe the lies and promises like 95,000 new "Green" jobs that the tree huggers are spouting on about, when someone has lost a job, or is on low wages, the crap the far left are spouting tends to get listened to a little more...and since theres 400,000 + people in that situation it's a lot of votes!

A Primal Nut

Who is advising these guys - do they expect this will win them votes? It's baffling. The anti-drink lobby must be really good at lobbying.

Duckworth_Luas

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Who is advising these guys

Health consultants, doctors and the like.

sdanseo

I am somewhere between shocked, appalled, and wanting to break into a fit of laughter at some of the idiots in this thread who want to NOT vote for FG - not for any particular educated or economic reason, but purely because it'll mean their booze is a tad more expensive. The drink culture in this country SICKENS me so much I actually find it hard to put into words.

On a purely economic tangent - this goes back to the groceries order from years ago - below cost selling of alcohol was a huge thing back then and it was eventually done away with when the groceries order was abolished; however it makes sense to ban it. For two main reasons:

1. If the likes of Tesco, Dunnes, Aldi, Lidl can sell alcohol extremely cheaply it will directly affect the propensity of the public to buy it in higher quantites, and thus to binge drink. Binge drinking has so many negative effects that this can only be best avoided.

2. There is a serious risk that by allowing alcohol to be sold extremely cheaply, smaller businesses could go out of business - especially independent off licences, resteraunts, vintners, publicans, and others. While this should ideally be regulated by the picture perfect idea of a free market economy, Irish people have proved that we are incapable of 100% self regulation in terms of competition - just look at the mess that is the taxi situation.

In a perfect world, it should be allowed, the smaller off licences would have to compete or go out of business and that would be hunky dory. However the focus at present should be on protecting jobs - and given that our booze industry is so ridiculously dominant, it would be socially irresponsible to let so many small businesses and their associated jobs teter on the edge of liquidation. If we did, someone would only complain in a years' time that there are no jobs and FG did nothing about it.

Without wanting to sound too Lenihan-esque, Government sometimes has to make unpopular decisions. Yes they do stand to gain VAT, but it hardly lines their own pockets - it pays for things we take for granted like FREE universal healthcare.

Sorry bout ye, but there's more to life than bloody drink. Some of you disgust me.

Pauleta

Well they have just lost my vote and i was most likely gonna give them a 1 and 2 preference. At this rate im gonna end up voting Fianna Fail :pac: :mad:

ilovesleep

Im not liking some of these things Im reading from FG, especially the VAT and carbon tax increases because thats going to increase the cost of doing business, and increase the cost of living.

We're not in for an easy ride. Things are going to be awful. I believe FF were too easy in the budget just gone, trying to buy votes. It doesnt matter what party gets in people are going to be broke. All I'm saying is that I'm not going to write off FG because I dont like some things Im reading from them.

One of FG plans is emigrate voting which I like.

syklops

sdonn wrote: »

I am somewhere between shocked, appalled, and wanting to break into a fit of laughter at some of the idiots in this thread who want to NOT vote for FG - not for any particular educated or economic reason, but purely because it'll mean their booze is a tad more expensive. The drink culture in this country SICKENS me so much I actually find it hard to put into words.

On a purely economic tangent - this goes back to the groceries order from years ago - below cost selling of alcohol was a huge thing back then and it was eventually done away with when the groceries order was abolished; however it makes sense to ban it. For two main reasons:

1. If the likes of Tesco, Dunnes, Aldi, Lidl can sell alcohol extremely cheaply it will directly affect the propensity of the public to buy it in higher quantites, and thus to binge drink. Binge drinking has so many negative effects that this can only be best avoided.

2. There is a serious risk that by allowing alcohol to be sold extremely cheaply, smaller businesses could go out of business - especially independent off licences, resteraunts, vintners, publicans, and others. While this should ideally be regulated by the picture perfect idea of a free market economy, Irish people have proved that we are incapable of 100% self regulation in terms of competition - just look at the mess that is the taxi situation.

In a perfect world, it should be allowed, the smaller off licences would have to compete or go out of business and that would be hunky dory. However the focus at present should be on protecting jobs - and given that our booze industry is so ridiculously dominant, it would be socially irresponsible to let so many small businesses and their associated jobs teter on the edge of liquidation. If we did, someone would only complain in a years' time that there are no jobs and FG did nothing about it.

Without wanting to sound too Lenihan-esque, Government sometimes has to make unpopular decisions. Yes they do stand to gain VAT, but it hardly lines their own pockets - it pays for things we take for granted like FREE universal healthcare.

Sorry bout ye, but there's more to life than bloody drink. Some of you disgust me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Anti-drink lobby has landed.