What is it that Angela Eagle knows that we do not?
From Hansard:
"Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much the Exchequer received in alcohol duties in each year since 1997, expressed in (a) cash terms and (b) 2008-09 prices; [240647]
"Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much the Exchequer received in alcohol duties in each year since 1997, expressed in (a) cash terms and (b) 2008-09 prices; [240647]
(2) what percentage of total tax revenue was made up by alcohol taxes in each of the last five years; [240648]
(3) what percentage of total tax revenue he expects to be made up by alcohol taxes in each of the next three years. [240649]
To which La Eagle (L'aigle?) replied with a slew of figures, the salient ones being these:
"Forecast alcohol duty revenue as a percentage of forecast total revenue is estimated to be 1.9 per cent. in 2008-09, 2.1 per cent. in 2009-10 and 2.0 per cent. in 2010-11".
2.1% takes us back to figures last seen in 2004-5. Now it could be that the tanking of the econony means that revenues for just about every form of tax are going to fall, but since I am feeling paranoid, another option would be that we enthusiasts for grape and grain are going to be seeing duty increases that will have us crying into our beer. Another possibility is that the Treasury reckons we will be attempting to drown our sorrows, their long since having learnt to swim nothwithstanding.
Meanwhile, the rake on the Demon Drink amounted to £7,880 million in 2007-8, (£131 per head, ish) and based on FY 2008 spending, that covered all foreign military and economic aid (7.5), or little under half (16.2) the cost of 'protection' - Plod, courts, prisons and the fire brigade etc.
Labels: Parliament, Taxes, the demon drink
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on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 9:44 am.
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we should have some of that demon drink
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