Aussies across the country will be forced to cough up more for alcoholic beverages as the government’s unpopular ‘beer tax’ rises a further 1.2 per cent today.

Excise rates for alcohol are indexed twice a year in line with the consumer price index (CPI), according to the ATO, and have been increasing every six months for the past 35 years.

Of a carton of full-strength (4.9 per cent) beer retailing at $52, you’re already paying $21.84 (or 42 per cent) in tax, according to the Brewers Association of Australia – and that figure will likely rise with today’s beer tax hike.

In 2019, the federal government was estimated to have pocketed $3.6 billion in alcohol tax.

Australia’s alcohol tax is the fourth-highest in the world: while we pay $2.23 per litre of alcohol in tax on stubbies, cans and longnecks, it’s just 12 cents in Germany, 14 cents in Spain and 28 cents in the US. Across the pond, Kiwis pay half what we do at $1.18.

Today’s alcohol tax hike is the 71st consecutive hike, with the next hike expected to hit on 1 August 2020.

According to the World Health Organisation, excise taxes on alcohol are proven to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and help governments offset economic costs of alcohol abuse.

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