The price we pay for booze could soon be going up, with a lofty tax hike scheduled to take effect April 1.
So, whether it’s a pint with your mates, a glass of wine at home, or shopping for spirits at the LCBO, you may have to dig deeper to enjoy your adult beverages.
“I don’t like it, I don’t like it, we need to get it out of the government’s hands,” said one consumer who CTV News spoke with outside the LCBO on Wonderland Road South in London.
The federal excise tax on beer, wine, and spirits is set to go up by 6.3 per cent. You won’t see the extra charge directly on your receipt though, as it goes to suppliers before an increase is passed on to consumers.
“Spending and being a student, it’s hard to like budget properly, so I think that would be a little difficult, but not too much,” said another LCBO customer. “Just kind of have to, I don’t know, buy in bulk a little bit,” she added.
Another customer said he would stock up every time he goes stateside or elsewhere. ”I may look out of province, out of country, and bring it in,” he explained.
The excise tax on alcohol is adjusted every year based on the rate of inflation. When it was introduced in 2017, the tax rose by just two per cent.
Beer Canada, a lobby group for the industry, said nearly half the retail price of beer in Canada is made up of taxes. The group is pushing for the government to put a freeze on the excise tax until inflation returns to two per cent.
“Allowing this to go ahead is exactly the same thing as if somebody stood up in the House of Commons and saying ‘I have a brilliant idea, hospitality is struggling, consumers are feeling the pinch. But I have a solution. I’m going to raise beer taxes by six per cent.’ Right, nobody would do that,” explained Beer Canada President C.J. Helie. “So, we’re trying to make that connection that doing nothing is exactly the same effect.”
Beer Canada has even enlisted the help of actor/comedians Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas to reprise their roles as beloved beer drinking hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie to promote its campaign to stop the tax.
President C.J. Helie said he’s hoping the government has a second sober look at the tax hike before it releases the spring budget.
