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?Let's finally Call Time On Duty: how to get involved

Published:  10 January, 2014

The Wine & Spirit Trade Association is leading a new campaign, Call Time On Duty, aimed at persuading George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to scrap the duty escalator on wines and spirits. Here's how you, your business and your customers can get involved.

The Wine & Spirit Trade Association is leading a new campaign, Call Time On Duty, aimed at persuading George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to scrap the duty escalator on wines and spirits. Here's how you, your business and your customers can get involved.

After years of above-inflation duty rises on wine and spirits, there is real hope that a new campaign can finally convince the government it does not make economic or political sense to keep raising the burden of tax on struggling British businesses or consumers.

The WSTA launched its Call Time on Duty campaign last month in partnership with the Scotch Whisky Association and the TaxPayers Alliance. The campaign sets out in clear economic terms why the Chancellor is not being fair on either businesses or consumers by persisting with the alcohol-duty escalator.

New research commissioned by the WSTA from Ernst & Young reveals for the first time the folly of the Chancellor hiking up alcohol duty year in, year out. The study shows that if the escalator were scrapped in the 2014 budget, it would generate £230 million extra for the Treasury and create 6,000 jobs.

The WSTA now hopes to use the figures to galvanise average drinkers to put pressure on both MPs and the government to stop the duty escalator and look again at how it taxes the drinks industry.

It is calling on the public to write to their local MP and persuade the government to think again. It has set up a new website - calltimeonduty.co.uk - through which people can send a letter direct to their MP.  The letter calls on the Chancellor "to be fair" and end what the WSTA describes as a "super tax" on alcohol.

Harpers Wine & Spirit has linked up with the campaign to give members of the UK wine and spirits trade the chance to have their voice heard by sending the open letter to their local MP setting out the damage that duty is causing to their businesses. Simply follow the relevant link in the Call Time on Duty section of Harpers.co.uk.

Wine and spirit producers bringing wine in to the UK can also sign a letter produced by Harpers that sets out the concerns they have about the high duty rates. The letter will be sent direct to the Chancellor, George Osborne, stressing the real danger they might be forced to effectively "call time on the UK" if something is not done to lower the duty threshold and make doing business in the UK more cost effective. It will be available on the site shortly.

Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, said: "Our message to the Chancellor is clear: if you're serious about creating jobs, supporting growth and cutting taxes, then you need to be fair and call time on your inflation-busting alcohol super tax."

Key facts behind the campaign

  • The UK alcohol industry pays £17 billion in tax a year, the equivalent of £329 per person.
  • The wine and spirits industry is worth £20 billion annually to the British economy.
  • In 2012-13, the wine and spirit industry directly or indirectly supported over £40bn of economic activity in the UK.
  • In 2012, the wine and spirit industry contributed £14.5bn to the Treasury.
  • Some 650,000 people are directly employed in the production and retail of alcohol in the UK.
  • The UK alcohol industry supports nearly 2 million jobs in total.
  • Since the alcohol duty escalator was introduced in 2008 ,wine taxation has risen by 50% and spirits taxation has risen by 44%.
  • Tax on wine and spirits has gone up by 25% under the current government.
  • The 2013 Budget increased the tax burden on restaurants and bars by over £34 million.
  • Tax now accounts for 79% of an average-priced bottle of spirits and 57% of an average-priced bottle of wine.
  • This will increase to over 80% on a bottle of spirits and 60% on a bottle of wine if the escalator is retained in 2014.
  • The UK accounts for 38.8% of all duty paid in the EU - more then France, Germany, Spain and Italy combined.

How you can get involved

For the Call Time on Duty campaign to work it needs the full support of the industry. Here are some steps you can take:

  1. Publicise the campaign to your customers.
  2. Put a direct link to the Call Time On Duty website on your own site. Click here for link.
  3. Encourage your customers to get behind the letter of protest on the Call Time On Duty website and send to their local MP. Access the letter here.
  4. Take the time to email your own letter to your local MP and make sure they know the damage the duty escalator is doing to the viability of your business. Access the letter here. 
  5. Tell your story about the impact the duty escalotor is having on your business to your local media.
  6. Urge your producers to give their support to the Harpers open letter setting out their concerns about doing business in the UK because of high duty rates to the Chancellor, George Osborne. The letter will be available on Harpers.co.uk shortly. Please ask them to email their support to harpers.editorial@wrbm.com and we will forward to the Chancellor. 

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