The taxman’s new found greed
After two rises in excise duty in one year alone, Slovakia’s brewers had to face a 14 percent drop in beer sales last year. In July 2003 the excise duty was increased from EUR7.28 to EUR12.13 per hl, which added EUR0.02 on each half-litre bottle of beer. Given that beer cost between EUR0.24 and EUR0.37 per 500 ml bottle, brewers were forced to pass the excise increase on to the consumer. Following the January 2003 increase in excise duty, there had been a 10 percent drop in beer consumption. Brewers have already expressed their concern over the speed of tax increases and what they call the uncertainty in Slovakia’s tax system. Slovakia’s beer production has been stagnating for several years at 4.4 million hl. Beer consumption in 2002 was 93 litres per capita..
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