Alcohol Set to Get More Expensive in Brampton

If you regularly purchase alcohol, you might be paying a little bit more soon.

If you regularly purchase alcohol, you might be paying a little bit more soon.

Canada’s distillers are asking federal Finance Minister Morneau to repeal what they call the “job-killing and pocket-picking” annual automatic escalator tax on beer, wine and spirits in today’s federal budget.

“Canada already imposes amongst the very highest taxes on alcohol in the world, and, in the case of spirits, 80 per cent of what you pay are taxes”, said Jan Westcott, President & CEO of Spirits Canada, in a statement.

Taxes on alcohol in Canada will rise on April 1 without a vote in Parliament – the third increase in three years. Federal excise duty revenues on Spirits alone rose 17.8 per cent last year.

“Today’s escalator tax is having the same negative effect it had when Canada last experimented with it in the 1980s; sky high prices, a freeze on investment, closed distilleries, lost jobs and Canada losing ground versus our international competitors”, said Westcott.

Spirits Canada says Canadian spirits manufacturers source virtually 100 per cent of their cereal grains from local Canadian farmers, providing a valuable and stable customer base for generations of farmers’ highest-grade barley, corn, rye and wheat.  

“We are calling for an immediate repeal of the escalator tax as a first step in a long overdue review and reform of Canadian alcohol tax policy”, added Westcott.

Do you think taxes should be frozen on alcohol?