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In a cost of living crisis a pint of beer from an Australian owned business is becoming unaffordable at the pub, at your local brewery or with friends at a backyard BBQ. 

Beer excise is a bigger revenue raiser than the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, one of the main taxes on the gas interest.

Rather than making sure big gas pays its fair share the federal Government would rather punish small businesses and watch the slow decline of brewery venues where people can come together to have that quintessential cold beer at the end of the day.

Australia’s 675+ independent brewers, 56% of which are located in regional and rural Australia contribute:

• $3.53 billion to the nation’s economy each year;
• Employ 51% of the jobs in the brewing sector
• Provide community meeting places and social hubs; and
• Still managed to donate $10.8 million to local causes in 2024.

Beer excise tax has recently experienced its 84th increase, has gone up every six months since 1983. It has increased by 20% since 2020 alone.

Last year Parliament debated excise tax reform and we think Kevin Hogan, Member for Page summed it up nicely:

“I just want to remind the Chamber of two stats, and they are these: 60% of the cost of packaged full-strength beers and 47% of the cost of mid-strength beers is now tax. So, basically, just under half of what a mid-strength beer costs you is a tax and 60% of a full-strength beer is a tax.

As I know—we all know—that the intention of this, when it was brought in, was good. The intention was to discourage antisocial behaviour or to discourage behaviour that would not be good for your health, but I think we have gone beyond that now. We’ve gone way beyond that.  Dare I say it, governments are now a little bit addicted to the revenue that they get from this and the compounding effect of that revenue.”

While both Labor and the Coalition have promised a 2-year freeze in the draught excise tax only (not packaged beer in bottles or cans) – that is of miniscule benefit to most small Australian brewers and will make next to no difference to the price of a pint at the pub.

At the same time, wine has also been granted the same benefit. Wine is not subject to excise, but rather WET tax, it is not indexed to inflation and does not automatically increase twice a year.  Since the 1980’s the retail wine price index has fallen by more than one third, while the beer price indexes have increased by about half.  Then on top of this disparity, the government provides millions in matching funding to Wine Australia but has never provided a cent to their Australian owned beer industry.

Today, beer drinkers pay double the tax per standard drink compared to bottled wine and eight times the tax rate per standard drink of cask wine.

There are obviously other revenue options available for whichever party makes government – we live in hope that our next federal government is smarter, more innovative and chooses a braver way to raise revenue rather than continuing to squeeze small Australian owned breweries. We need total a fair go and we need a government willing to pull it apart and start again.

If you want to join the efforts to have our voice heard by all Members of Parliament sign up here and we will tell you how to ‘Vote for Beer’ in 2025.