We were talking about Britian....(OT)

[Guest guest]

Thought this was interesting, in light of the recent

discussion we had about England....This story from the

AP..........Lynn

 

Britons hit by new ’sin taxes’

 

 

LONDON - Many Britons were resigning themselves to more

puritanical lifestyles Thursday as they faced the prospect of “sin taxes”

that will increase the cost of alcohol, cigarettes, gas-guzzling cars

and, potentially, plastic bags.

The Labour Party government is hoping that hiking taxes on booze will

help curb Britain’s binge-drinking culture.

But breakfast talk radio was abuzz with callers lamenting the

potential death of Britain’s pub scene, with the tax hike coming less

than a year after the government imposed a smoking ban in all public

buildings.

“They put more on alcohol because they think there’s going to be

binge-drinking, but it won’t stop. It just stops people going in pubs,”

said Sarah Thomas, 33, a teacher trainer smoking a rolled tobacco

cigarette outside The Goose pub in central London.

From this weekend, alcohol duties will rise by 6 percent above

inflation meaning an extra 8 cents for a pint of beer, which already

costss about $6 in an average London pub.

They will go up around 26 cents for a bottle of wine and a whopping

$1.10 a bottle for spirits such as whisky.

The duties will then rise by another 2 percent above inflation in

each of the next four years, reversing a trend in previous budgets to

keep increases low for most alcohol products. Duties on spirits were

frozen for the past 10 years to boost British spirit makers’

competitiveness, accounting for the large jump this year.

A packet of cigarettes, already a steep $11.20, will rise by 22

cents.

It is bizarre at a time when the economy is slowing, prices are

rising and many families are feeling the pinch, that the government

should choose to add to their burden by making the simple pleasure of a

glass of wine or spirits considerably more expensive.”