BBPA Community Pub Poll

Voters call on Government to scrap the planned Beer Tax increase in Wednesday's Budget
 
• 67 per cent say tax on beer is already too high and should not increase further in this week's budget
• 63 per cent believe Government tax policy should encourage people to drink lower strength alcohol drinks like beer
• Almost 80 per cent think an important part of Britain's social and community fabric is being lost with 40 pubs closing a week
• Nearly six in ten people (59 per cent) think Government taxation and red tape are responsible for pub closures
 
Two thirds of the British public (67 per cent) want the Government to abandon the Beer Tax escalator in Wednesday's Budget according to a new ComRes poll released today on behalf of the British Beer & Pub Association.
 
The Chancellor is currently committed to increasing duty by 2 per cent above inflation in this week's Budget. A large majority of the public (63% against, 33% opposed) also believe that Government tax policy should be changed so that it encourages people to choose lower strength alcohol drinks such as beer.
 
The poll results come on the back of a call by 40 chairmen and chief executives of Britain's leading brewers and pub companies for the Chancellor to scrap the punitive beer duty regime imposed by the Chancellor in 2008 which has seen Beer Tax increase by 20 per cent since then. Oxford Economics has estimated that the increase in Beer Tax will cost 59,000 jobs and lead to a £9 billion loss in economic activity.
 
The other main findings of the opinion poll carried out by ComRes are:
 
• 79 per cent of all people think that an important part of Britain's social and community fabric is being lost.
 
• 78 per cent think the pub makes a valuable contribution to the economy
 
• 77 per cent think the pub is an important symbol of the British way of life
 
• 69 per cent think the pub is an important part of the social fabric of their own community
 
• 61 per cent think the Government should do more to help support and promote the pub.
 
• Nearly six in ten people (59 per cent) think Government taxation and red tape are responsible for pub closures
 
 Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the BBPA, said:
 
“The beer and pub industry has been hit hard by recession with 4,000 pubs having closed over the last two years and beer sales down by £650m in the last year. Recently, we have seen some tentative signs of recovery, but this will be put at risk with more tax hikes now.
 
"The vast majority of voters agree too. They do not want to see further beer tax increases and they would like to see beer - a British-made, low-alcohol drink - taxed differently from other drinks.
 
"The Chancellor should listen to the economic arguments and to the views of the voters: freeze beer duty and give beer a break!"