Tim Andrews: It’s not a bottle deposit scheme — it’s a tax on summer

THE weather this weekend is tipped to be a balmy 27 ­degrees, which turns thoughts to the three Bs of summer — backyards, barbecues and, to wash it all down, beer. Well, drink up because soon one of those things is about to getmore expensive, writes Tim Andrews.

• Carton of beer could cost you $4 extra under new plan

THE weather this weekend is tipped to be a balmy 27 ­degrees, which may turn at least a few readers’ thoughts to the three Bs of summer — backyards, barbecues and, to wash it all down, beer.

Well, drink up because pretty soon at least one of those three things is about to getmore expensive.

In just three weeks a new “container deposit scheme” — really a tax — is set to add up to $5 more for every slab of beer, with most of the money going to line the pockets of local councils and multinationals.

Tim Andrews is the executive director of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance.

And it’s not just beer drinkers who will be hit. When you go to your local supermarket you’ll find the cost of soft drinks, bottled water and flavoured milk will go up, in some cases, by a whopping 60 per cent — at a time we are all struggling to make ends meet with some of the world’s highest electricity and rental prices.

The NSW government says that this isn’t really a tax.

It’s a “deposit”.

And technically if you jump through enough hoops you can get a refund by returning your empty bottle at an ­“approved collection point”.

Expect to pay more for a case of beer under a deposit scheme. Picture: Sarah Matray

Except three weeks out, we don’t even know where any of these “collection points” are. And even when they are eventually released most people won’t drive 20 minutes to get their 10 cents back. They’ll continue to put their bottles into the council recycling bin. And guess what happens then? Your local council gets the ­refund, not you. So they get the money, but we pay the cost. A great deal for councils, but particularly crummy for the rest of us.

READ MORE: Carton of beer could cost you $4 extra under new plan

Should you try to get a refund, you will never get a full one. The extra cost for some bottles is 40 per cent more than the maximum refund and may go up even more. And where does this difference go? Network ­operation costs.

While this looks like a good investment — it won’t nab you all that much if you try for your refund.

It gets worse, though. If after all of this you still want to drive the 20 minutes to get your 10 cent refund, you won’t even get cash or credit. All you get is a voucher for Woolworths or Aldi (but no other supermarkets), or the choice to “donate” it to an “approved” charity or to receive a PayPal transfer (with PayPal, of course, earning a nice commission on this).

For December alone this scheme is set to collect more than $50 million. That’s more than $20 for every NSW household. While this is likely to fall, we are potentially looking at more than $200 in extra taxes for every NSW family a year.

READ MORE: ‘Cash for cans’ scheme gets green light

But it’s not every family that will be forced to pay this. Drinks such as wine, spirits and “health tonics” are exempt. This means the brunt of the scheme will be borne by low and middle-income earners.

Seinfeld’s nemesis Newman came a cropper when it came to the bottle deposit scheme.

Even if your drive out to a recycling centre, don’t expect a cash reward.

Not only does this scheme hurt the poor and protect the rich, it also hurts small businesses while protecting the big end of town.

“Exchange For Change”, which is administering the scheme, is made up of Australia’s five biggest beverage companies. These can easily absorb the compliance cost and administrative burden.

This means it’s the small businesses that will suffer — particularly when they have to pay to register every single type of product and bottle. Jobs will be cut and some may even close their doors.

One family-run juice business on the Central Coast was just hit with a $75,000 bill for December alone — and given only seven days to find the money and pay. Don’t our politicians realise small businesses don’t have that amount of money lying around?

If this comes in, it will hurt all of us, with higher prices at the shops and fewer jobs to go around.

It’s time the NSW government owned up to this debacle and scrapped this scheme before the cost becomes too high. Because no one will like the Grinch who made Christmas beers unaffordable.

Tim Andrews is executive director of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance