‘Miserable summer’: Embattled industry pleas for tax hike relief

Pubs are bracing for another blow as the largest beer tax hike in more than a decade kicks in.

Queensland pub owners have pleaded to be spared a tax hike on beer sales following a devastating Christmas period plagued by the Omicron outbreak as the cost of a pint rises again on Tuesday.

The sector has limped through a “shocking” summer period as soaring Covid-19 infections forced many to isolate at home.

And now the peak body is lobbying the federal government to slash the excise on draught beer which it says will be the steepest increase in more than a decade.

Australians already cough up the fourth highest beer tax in the world, which has gone up twice a year for the past 35 years, and the latest increase will take the draught beer rate to $36.98 per litre of alcohol – a 2.1 per cent increase for the six-month period.

“It’s something the public doesn’t need,” Brisbane’s Paddo Tavern owner Matt McGuire told The Courier-Mail.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we were obviously the first people to shut and the last people to open and customers paying more money for their beer is not really conducive to being a busy pub.”

Matt McGuire and Jessica Falzon at The Paddo in Paddington. Picture: Richard Walker

Mr McQuire said the recent outbreak had crippled his workforce with staff forced to isolate at home.

“We had to shut one of our pubs two weeks ago just to staff some of the others,” he said.

The industry peak body has pleaded for the excise, which is typically hiked each year in February and August, to be halved this cycle which would equate to a reduction of $150 million for the federal government.

“It’s money that could be reinvested back into the industry when they need it most,” Queensland Hotels Association chief executive Bernie Hogan said.

“It’s sort of a triple tax because by the time you buy a beer, you pay income tax, the publicans pay GST and then the excise is in there as well.

“It’s going to be about 60 cents a schooner.”

Mr Hogan said the tax burden couldn’t come at a worse time with the sector’s consumer confidence “shocking at the moment”.

“It was the worst January we’ve seen in years,” he said, describing the unusual peak season as a “miserable summer”.

The peak body has urged the federal government to amend the tax structure to support the economy and boost job creation.

“If you and bunch of mates go and buy six beers and sit in the bar, you’ve got the barman, you’ve got the people picking them up, and you’ve got the people coming in and cleaning the pub afterwards so you create more jobs,” Mr Hogan said.

“This actually leads to the economy growing and that’s what we need.”