The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) has called for a 15% reduction in excise on alcohol in its pre-budget submission. The submission urges the Government to ‘take control’ of domestic determinants, that can support economic growth and enterprise development after the Brexit vote.
It is the opinion of DIGI that excise is a direct tax on tourism, a direct tax on jobs and a direct tax on small businesses.
In its submission, DIGI said that Budget 2017 has to compensate for the negative effect of Brexit, such as exchange rate uncertainty, impacts of a new “border” and the impacts that Brexit might have on British tourists and their spend in Ireland.
Maggie Timoney, DIGI Chairperson and Managing Director at Heineken Ireland said; “An alcohol excise reduction is a vital response to the new and immediate effect of the uncertainty caused by Brexit. Excise increases are detrimental to the Irish drinks and hospitality industry and the 200,000 jobs it supports. Ireland has the second highest excise on alcohol in the EU.
“Alcohol tax is a regressive and inequitable tax and ours is very high by EU standards. We believe that the particularly high Irish excise tax is detrimental to economic growth and economic activity. We would urge the Government to reduce excise by 15% in October’s Budget.”
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
