Cider Drinkers Hit In The Budget
By Hannah2009 | Thursday, March 25, 2010, 09:20
What did you think of the Budget? Will your wallet/purse be a bit lighter now? Was there any good news in it for you or your family? Here’s a quick run-down of some of the main points.
The Budget certainly didn’t have any good news for the cider drinkers of Bedminster: duty on the popular drink will rise by 10% above inflation from midnight on Sunday. Similarly, wine, beer and spirit will rise by 2% from midnight on Sunday. Bedminster’s pubs should be doing a roaring trading on Friday and Saturday!
Smokers were also hit with a 1% rise in duty on the price of tobacco from midnight on Sunday and a further 2% rise in real terms each year until 2014.
It was better news for first-time buyers, however, with stamp duty being scrapped for them on homes below £250,000.
Drivers also had some good news: the planned 3p increase in fuel duty will now be staggered. It will go up by 1p in April, with the remainder split over October of this year and January of next.
For families, the Chancellor announced a rise of £4 a week in child tax credits for the parents of one and two-year-olds.
The higher winter fuel payment for pensioners, brought in during the severe weather this winter, will continue into next year.
And another legacy of this winter’s weather is that £100m has been earmarked for local road repairs – with a bit of luck, we might now see the last of the monster potholes!
So, it was a bit of a sweetener with an eye to the Election, but will it affect the way you vote?
Comments
If you are a car owner who smokes and likes a glass of cider you are in trouble! Take heart if you are a first time buyer with a deposit of £30,000 duty is scraped on houses under £250K and you receive child tax credits Mr Darling has just made your day.
By Susie710 at 21:33 on 25/03/10
Report"And cheers to you too Darling! What has he got against cider drinkers?"
Cider, along with alcopops is seen by those in power as the drink of choice of the ASBO generation so banging up the duty on it is seen to be doing something about binge drinking. Of course this is a load of male oblate spheroids. Most of our alkies and under age drinkers guzzle cheap 2 litre bottles purchased for less than two pounds in bargain off licences and supermarkets and a rise in duty of about 10p isn't going to worry them over much. Even if the supermarket/off licence added 15p to the price it isn't going to stop them.
All it can be described as is a tax grab disguised as "doing something to sort out Britains binge drinking culture", a problem that the government exacerbated with 24 hour licensing. It will simply hit pubs and those of us who enjoy a pint of decent cider now and then rather than two litres of fizzy apple flavoured chemicals.
By Kaptain_Von at 10:10 on 25/03/10
ReportAnd cheers to you too Darling! What has he got against cider drinkers?
By Oakwood11 at 09:24 on 25/03/10
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