Autumn Budget 2017 - Alcohol and Tobacco Duty (23-11-2017)
Source: HM Government | 22-11-2017
As part of the Budget measures the Chancellor announced that the duty rates on beers, ciders, spirits and wine will be frozen at the current rates. These measures will mean that a bottle of whisky will be £1.15 less than if the rates had increased as expected and a pint of beer 12p less. As the Chancellor said in his speech ‘Merry Christmas!’.
However, the Chancellor did announce that he will look at introducing a new duty band for cheap cider known as white ciders with alcohol levels as high as 7.5% from February 2019. A new duty rate on these white ciders would help encourage the production and consumption of lower-strength ciders.
The duty rates on tobacco products were increased by 2% above the rate of inflation (based on RPI) effective from 6pm on 22 November 2017. The Chancellor also announced that the duty for hand-rolling tobacco will increase by an additional 1% (i.e. 3% above RPI) at the same time. This could push the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes to over £10.