Pre-Mixed Drink Taxes in Australia

There is now a $1 or thereabouts surcharge on all pre-mixed drinks in Australia implemented by the Rudd government as a step to combat binge drinking.

These new tax laws are complete crap.

I went to the local Dan Murphy's bottle shop to get a 6 pack of pre-mixed bourbon or rum. Upon reaching the fridges I found that over proof Bundy 6 packs (7% alcohol, 375mL) were $27 AUS. Absolutely ridiculous I thought to myself. It is now hard to get a decent 6 pack of pre mixed drinks for under $20. There were a number of thoughts that came to my head that day.....

1) The 'chick' drinks such as UDLs and Cruisers which are pre-mixed yet less popular HAD NOT INCREASED IN PRICE. I asked the woman at the checkout why and she said something about the tax going up again which didn't answer my question.

2) Seeing these prices, I walked away from the fridge and picked up a 700mL bottle of Jack Daniels and a 2L bottle of coke for $40. I was only going to be paying an extra $13 than if I were to get the Bundies. You little ripper I thought to myself.

Here lies the problem. If you want to combat binge drinking, why increase the tax on pre-mixed coke based drinks yet leave the girly drinks (even if it were only for a few days, the fact that these prices had not gone up made it obvious they weren't even considered to begin with) alone. The fact is that young males in Australia consume a crapload of booze and the Rudd government knows it. These same young males also drink (in my experience) pre-mixed cans whenever the wallet allows. In my experience, its pre mixed cans at home, and beer when you go out.

NOW THINK ABOUT THIS: (excuse the capitals but this is very important)

What do you think binge drinkers are going to do when they want to get wasted but can't afford to be paying all this excess on cans. I mean, a slab of pre-mixed drinks can cost you 80-100 dollars AUS. That right, you guessed it, they're gonna do what I did and go and buy that bottle. Depending where you go, bottles of cheap scotch or vodka can get bought for $24 odd dollars. 'Hey guys why get cans, lets chip in and buy some bottles!'.

I've seen this happening already. The binge drinkers are getting even more pissed now. This tax has actually made things worse because the fools in Canberra are so out of touch with reality that they think crap like this will work.

They are trying to cut costs where ever they can to maintain their plans for the country, but are taking money from the wrong places. In the end (I said it first), the alcohol tax is going to increase right accross the board from beer to wine and bottles of spirits so that these 'binge drinkers' can be stamped out. I can see it now..... in a few months they will have some toffee arse reporter talking about how teens have switched to bottles of spirits instead of cans because it works out cheaper in the end. They implement a new tax on bottles and the cycle repeats for every type of booze you can buy.

Personally I think these new taxes are an attack (that I and many fellow Australians feel is quite personal) on Aussie culture which is in it's infant stages. Greedy politicians always trying to profit, and this time from a prominent part of Aussie culture - having a drink with your mates.

***They are projecting an extra 3 BILLION dollars annually in the budget as coming from this tax.
***I drink once per week, either on a Saturday or a Friday night. I feel so strongly about this issue for a number of reasons as stated above. I don't want to have to pay some prissy prick my hard earned just for the right to be able to drink what I want. Also as stated, this is going to increase the damage of alcohol on young people because of the price imbalance(which I believe is possibly a plan to increase tax on ALL alcohol over time).

And Mr. Rudd: maybe Saffran was right, you are a blood sucking vampire. =)

you realy want to stick it to them make your own liquer. its not hard, its inexpensive and they cant tax the crap out of you. i wont post the links here because there are underage users on ats but if you send me a u2u ill reply and can get you instructions and recipes for many diffrent types of drink. my family has been making whiskey, and pure grain corn liquer for generations its cheap, stronge and you can trade bottles to other people for other things i used to trade my friend bottles for cartons of smokes lol.

The chicks drinks aren't more expensive because the Budget has yet to pass through the Senate - which the Liberals still control until June.

The Greens are also going to block it unless they get a guarantee that the revenue raised through the excise increase will go toward binge drinking prevention.

This isn't a new tax, after the GST was introduced, the spirt based drinks got a free ride from the Howard government because of heavy lobbying by the alcohol companies.

If you want a real conspiracy, I think that would be a bigger one.

But please, don't say this is an attack on 'Aussie culture'. All of the world already thinks we're constantly 'on the piss', don't perpetuate the stereotype.

As a future 'toffee arse' reporter who was just in Canberra on Thursday, we all know kids are going to switch drinks, and this may well be a knee jerk reaction, but it is a step more than what the Howard government did.

Yeah I guess thats a good alternative. I've dabbled with brewing beer but I prefer spirits.

My main gripe is that the reasons for this taxation are complete BS. They don't care about binge drinking (and it is so blatantly obvious it's not funny) but don't mind using it as an excuse to tax us even more.

The increase in price on the drinks aimed at young males cannot be explained by the GST, the jump is too large.

Whether you like it or not drinking is a part of our culture, although not always in the way that many people think. It doesn't mean you are always on the piss. I would hazard a guess that class issues prevent you from ever understanding the real Australian people. The same issues that make the media find the 'underworld' so mysterious.

Luckily for me, I don't watch TV and therefore wont have to listen to the dribble on the news.

Young people will switch drinks, and the prices will soar again.

How exactly would you explain bundy OPs being 19-21 dollars a 6 pack to now being 27-28 dollars a six pack simply with the GST. Maybe I don't understand correctly, but the point is people shouldn't have to pay so highly for alcohol.

I hate the fact that politicians try to solve issues without having enough personal experience to know what is going to be effective. Taxes aren't going to fix anything, ever. Thats just what they want you to think.

[edit on 16-5-2008 by seenitall]

I think it is a responsible measure the Rudd Govt has taken.

These drinks are lollie water and young adults are binge drinking. The Alcohol Companies are so responsible they tried to introduce alcohol ice blocks...thankfully, they were prohibited just who are they targeting

USA legal age to drink is 21? AU it is 18. Teenages are drinking before the legal age and the marketing and 'taste' is focusing on which group in the community? Teenagers...

Some of this lollie water has a higher alcohol content than a standard drink... My Daughter's friends will buy a pack of these drinks, they are too affordable and the alcohol content is too strong. It is a dangerous combination!

Its no excuse to add tax. There are other ways to combat the issue.

It is most definitely just a money raising ploy. I had this discussion with my mate last week when we bought a couple of stubs of bourban and coke and it cost us almost $20. People are just going to go out and buy a bottle of a spirit of their choice and some mixer and go home and FREE POUR it themselves.

This is going to lead to so much more irresponsible drinking. Which will then of course cause this tax to blanket over all alcohol. Raising more money for the government. The perfect plan, eh Mr. Rudd?

And I'm not sure what you guys classify as "girly drinks", but at my pub we're selling Smirnoff red and blacks for $8.60 and $10.80 each. Bloody ridiculous prices, and I reckon those drinks fit in the "girly" category pretty well.

The point is: the tax was designed to fail, UNLESS it was eventually placed on all alcohol, resulting in more revenue for the government.

Who the hell voted for Rudd anyway?

Up here in New York I don't see pre-mix drinks. You can get beer, wine-coolers/malt drinks, but not actual mix drinks. Say you get a 4-pack of Jack Daniels' Lynchburg Lemonade, there's no whiskey in it, it's just malt-liquor with flavor additives. Are these the types of drinks you guys are talking about here?

I've always mixed my own drinks, unless I was drinking beer of course. But of course, I've seen my share of tragedy as a result as well. One kid actually guzzled straight 50% Vodka one night. And a very lot of it, in only a minute or two.

We get taxed on spirits pretty well, but we can still buy some beer for less than soda-pop, and far less than natural juices. The thing that they're killing us in taxes over is the cigarettes. Another $1.50US per pack increase at the end of the month. Of course they try to tell us it's for health reasons, but that's bullcrap.

Tax is never in the interest of the people. Kids are actually going to get hurt over your new measures down there.

[edit on 5/17/0808 by jackinthebox]

hey jack im also in ny to get around the cig taxes i get all mine at a store on the indian reservation i pay only 16 bux for a carton. i dont buy much liquer anymore so it dosent effect me much but when i do its usualy hard liquer .

edited because i miss spelled jack

[edit on 5/17/2008 by krill]

reply to post by jackinthebox

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The pre-mixed drinks, or RTD's (ready to drinks) that we're talking about are like, bourban and coke, or scotch and dry gingerale, or vodka and lemonade, pre-mixed and bottled in a factory and sent ready-to-drink to pubs and bottle shops (bottle-o's) around Australia. It's pretty much a convenience thing.

It also has it's good points and it's bad points. The good being that you know exactly how much you're drinking and you can keep tabs on your drinks and limit yourself if you have to. The bad being that it DOES make it easier to drink, and with the vodka and barcardi pre-mixes you really can't taste the alcohol at all. It pretty much tastes like you're drinking soft drink or cordial, which is why it's so appealing to teens.

But that, in my opinion, does not warrent this tax hike.

On a side note, when my friends and I were on a train from Rome to Venice we were in the same carriage as 3 American girls, and they had never heard of pre-mixes either. It was a rather interesting conversation. We tried out best to get them into some good aussie rock bands, I was so surprised they hadn't even heard of Silverchair! Anyway, they then asked if we had Christmas in July because that's when our winter is. We didn't talk to them much after that.

reply to post by krill

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I like your other suggestion too. If I had a home, I would U2U you for recipes.

reply to post by Toy_soldier

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The only real danger I see in those drinks would be serving them to kids. Other than that, the taste is just a matter of preference. Everyone knows when they're feeling good and when they've crossed the line, no matter what you're drinking.

As far as I'm concerned, single serve bottles are probably actually a lot safer in the long run. It's not really like the kids who get some bottles of the hooch don't know what it is. I'd rather see them experimenting with that then straight liquor.

The fact of the matter is simply this IMO.....
If you leave home to Party.. you are screwwed.

Beer...taxed
Smokes...Taxed
Pokies...taxed
Food..taxed (and screwed)
Taxi home..... screwed

Get home... house burgled

insurance...DENIED (small print you never read)

DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE !!


Stay here and theorize


Cheers

Mungo

reply to post by jackinthebox

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Very true, though the RTD's are rarely 1 single serving of alcohol. You'll almost always find 1.something standard drinks in each bottle. Just the other night I was having Bulleit Bourban and cola and they're 2.7 standard drinks per can. You could easily polish off 2 of those in under an hour, and that would be 5.4 standard drinks in that short amount of time. It's amazing when you have 2 or 3 of those and you get up to go to the toilet or something and you realise that you can't exactly walk straight.

There's no denying that if some teens got their hands on some of that stuff then they could be in for a rough night, but if they want to then they will, regardless of the price. Or, like I said earlier, they'll just grab the spirits and free pour it themselves. A definite recipe for disaster.

This is stupid and ridiculous.

I’m 23 and go out nearly every weekend and only drink Smirnoff Ice Black (which is in these pre-mixed drinks category).

Now the price has been raised just because parents can’t control their own kids. Why should I have to pay a higher price for the drink I like just because some teenager goes mad and their parents don’t know how to control them.

I drink Smirnoff Ice Black simply because I like the taste, and beer in Australia tastes crap. Two years ago I used to only pay $5.50 for a Smirnoff Ice, now because of other peoples bad parenting I have to pay $8.75 - $10.75 a bottle (depending who serves me). It’s ridiculous.

By raising the tax on it wont stop Binge Drinking, if kids want to drink they will still do it, by raising the price it will just cause them

1: to steel so they can afford it, or
2: to just move onto something cheaper, like beer or wine.

If kids want to get drunk, they don’t care what it tastes like, if they want to get drunk as long as it’s alcohol they’ll drink it, even if it’s that kangaroo pee – Fosters!

Raising the age limit wont change a thing as people 16 are drinking, which is still under the age, so 18 or 21 the legal limit won’t make a difference.

I think parents just need to kick their kids into shape. I shouldn’t have to pay higher tax for some idiot who can’t handle their drink!

In the end it doesn’t matter, I guess I’ll just find more “items” to claim back on my tax return come July, so it will work out in the end.

Mikey

I was waiting for a topic about this.

Well I see numerous conspiracies that can only spiral from here lets have a look what we have here.

Alcohol(not enough money for that stuff now) - Young Kids + Drugs(last resort) = Lets go half's in some pills or lets buy some weed.


This is all perfect for the NWO, a generation of kids and adults bought up on drugs while raising more revenue no one gets in the way because they are too doped up on drugs to really care.

I wanna see people getting more mad not with your neighbors not with your friends or families, i wanna see people getting mad with the government.