A can of beer will be more expensive by less than three cents
Slovenian brewers urged the government to withdraw for 1 June the announced increase in excise duties, and the competent ministries, especially financially, to reason and find further solutions. They pointed out that he could plunge many brewing into red numbers and finally sink. Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič Jim replied that the price for the semi -liter packaging of beer would rise by 2.6 and the small ones by 1.3 cents. Healthcare wanted a significantly higher increase.
With excise duties, the government pursues different goals, and weeks ago it has raised excise duties for tobacco products and alcohol, that is, products that are considered harmful health. As the Minister of Finance explained Klemen Boštjančičalcohol excise duties have not increased for ten years, and retail prices of products have increased, meanwhile.
« It’s not about the duty paid by the manufacturers, it is a duty we pay for consumers, » said Minister Klemen Boštjančič. Photo: Jože Suhadolnik
The government has decided to raise excise duties by June by seven percent, which, according to the minister, is a compromise. According to the proposal, it is expected to rise in accordance with inflation from 2014 to 2024. The health profession, on the one hand, wanted a higher rise, the industry opposed any rise, and seven percent of the enacted are a compromise.
Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Chamber of Agricultural and Food Companies Tatjana Zagorc is, according to reporting Were He stressed that 11 new financial burdens have been adopted for the economy in recent years, and the higher excise duty on beer is a new blow to the activity of brewing. « We know that as a sector we have to contribute our own, but it is somewhere in the break, and we have long overcome this in brewing, » she is convinced.
We have long since exceeded the breaking point in brewing, Tatjana Zagorc believes. Photo: Leon Vidic
According to her, Slovenian brewing contributes € 290 million to the state budget, of which € 90 million based on excise duty. In doing so, each job in the sector means six jobs in other industries, providing more than 8,000 jobs together. According to Zagorčeva, 94 breweries are obliged to pay excise duty in Slovenia, one of which is larger, namely Pivovarna Laško Union, and the rest are Kraft Brewery, which are also related to catering and tourism. Higher excise duties will also have negative consequences on these two industries, she warned.
Not a problem with an increase, but the fact that they are among the highest in Europe
President of the Association of Slovenian Breweries and a representative of the Reservoir Dog Brewery Andrej Sluga He stressed that the basic problem is not an increase in excise duty, but the fact that it is already among the higher in the EU. As it could be heard today, 70 percent higher than excise duty in Italy, 140 percent higher than that in Croatia, 150 percent higher than in Austria and 180 percent higher than in Hungary.
Today, the Minister of Finance specifically touched on small brewers. He said that the state had raised € 123.6 million by excise duties per alcohol last year, and the share of small brewers amounted to less than one million euros or 0.8 percent. « It’s not about the duty paid by the manufacturers, it is a duty paid by consumers in shops or restaurants, » he said.
He also said that small brewers received a 50 % reduction in excise duties, which is the highest possible reduction. For large brewers, with the increase of excise duty, the price for semi -liter packaging of beer with a five percent alcoholic level will rise by 2.6 cents and for small brewers by 1.3 cents. Of course, traders can abuse the rise and increase the price on the pretext that these are the consequences of government measures, much more. They are supposed to control it.
The Minister of Health wants measures to reduce use
Minister of Health Valentina Prevolnik Rupel She explained that in the field of alcohol policy, they want measures that will contribute to reducing access to alcohol, especially vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents, and in her words, price policy is proven to be related to limiting access to alcohol.
She emphasized that we have problems with alcohol consumption in Slovenia, since the Slovenian consumes an average of 9.7 liters of pure alcohol per year.
« Two people per day die due to alcohol, ten people are connected to treatment each day, more than 900 deaths can be attributed directly to alcohol and related diseases, » the minister said.
