The food and drink taxes we didn’t see coming

WAS nothing sacred when Hockey beat his Budget with the tax hike stick? You won’t believe which mouthwatering morsels will cop beefed-up levies from July 1.

THERE will be no mango tax under the government I lead.

We’ve never heard that one from any of our political leaders. But many of us would be unaware that a small mango levy increase was one of a number of small tax measures included in last night’s federal Budget.

Here are some of the new food and drink taxes — and the reason we have them.

The mushroom spawn levy

Delicious fully-grown mushrooms. Picture: Thinkstock

Oh my goodness, the mushroom spawn levy has nearly doubled. It will soar from $2.16 to $4.32 a kilogram starting from July 1.

What’s the mushroom spawn levy? After we took the piss out of the measure last night, a reader politely informed us:

The mushroom spawn levy is paid by mushroom growers to fund research and development and marketing programs. The growers themselves voted recently to increase it.

This is a perfect example of people helping themselves and paying their way — just what the government says they want to see happen.

Rock on, mushroom spawn levy.

The mango levy

There is only one word to describe this: succulent. Picture: Thinkstock

The government’s levy on mangos has leapt from 1.750 cents a kilo to 1.893 starting next July.

According to the Budget papers, the levy on mushy summer fruit growers is used to fund industry research and development, marketing programs and biosecurity initiatives.

The reality is, in this writer’s controversial opinion, they aren’t all that tasty anyway. You heard it here first.

The hard onion levy and export charge

Gold Onions in wooden barrel.

The hard onion levy has doubled from $2 a tonne to $4.

According to industry body Onions Australia, the levy is gathered from growers across the country and is used to fund research and development measures, as well as product quality, efficiency and sustainability.

We aren’t sure if soft onions exist, but it seems they have escaped Hockey’s horror budget.

The wine tax

Everyone shuddered at the thought of a massive wine tax. Picture: Thinkstock

Australia came perilously close to disaster yesterday, all thanks to a typo in the Budget papers.

As AAP reports, the wine equalisation tax, which is tipped to raise $780 million in the coming financial year, was projected by the Treasury boffins to continue rising gradually year after year, in line with the economy, reaching $810 million in 2015/16.

But then according to the table in Budget papers, it was to surge to over $60.7 billion, a rise of 7,397 per cent, in 2016/17.

It sounded as if Australia was about to stare-down a backbreaking tax on our favourite drops. Thankfully, that was not the case. It was only a typo. Crisis averted. Phewwwwwwwwwwww.

Originally published as The food and drink taxes we didn’t see coming