What would happen if drink prices were raised sky high in the budget?

Jamiekelly

Say all drinks goes up to 2 euro. Both pints and cans.

Bet there would be a huge protest organised then

newmug

There'd be a sudden increase in poitin making!

PCPhoto

peoples would stockpile in nordyland...... simples !!

4zn76tysfajdxp

Jamiekelly wrote: »

Say a pint of bud goes up to 6 euro or some crazy high prize.

Bet there would be a huge protest organised then

Or they'd switch to Heineken.

Ghandee

I hate to be the bearer of bad news op......
But loads of pubs have been charging €6 (and sometimes above) for pints ofgoats piss bud for AGES in some parts of Dublin.

rossie1977

well based on the fact that pints are €6 (and higher) in some places in dublin, i would predict that those places would be mad busy if temple bar is anything to go by

Minstrel27

Jamiekelly wrote: »

Say a pint of bud goes up to 6 euro or some crazy high prize.

Bet there would be a huge protest organised then

Budweiser is piss. They can put it to €100 for all I care.

Pherekydes

Jamiekelly wrote: »

Say a pint of bud goes up to 6 euro or some crazy high prize.

I don't care how much they pay me, I ain't drinking it.

jimthemental

I'd be setting up a poitin still, a home brew kit and I'd stockpile smithwicks like canned goods before a war.

Orando Broom

I'd stop drinking and start doing activities.

TanG411

It wouldn't affect me in any way, whatsoever.

aerahL

If that thing would happen, maybe I'll take out a personal loan to have an extra budget for one month alcoholic drink. Or maybe I'll just cut off a little of my alcohol intake. And worse I'll just have an abstinence in alcohol. I hope one my three ideas would work.

biko

What if what if

starbelgrade

It would cost more to get drunk, would be the logical conclusion.

maxfresh

A lot more people would get addicted to prescription drugs.

I've prepared for this eventuality by starting homebrewing. Pubs are a different story however.

Cabaal

The gov would make more money clearly....

wolfpawnat

Sales would be lost and hundreds would head North! Don't worry the Government know where the easiest tax comes from!!!

Biggest worry I would see would be 50c! They know if they raise it much higher that with is budgets cuts no one will be able to afford it and they will lose a holy fortune!!!!

Zebra3

Jamiekelly wrote: »

Say all drinks goes up to 2 euro. Both pints and cans.

What's the name of your local? :eek:

Lando Griffin

Jackie Healy Rea would go on a rant and walk out on the Government and possibably causing a general election. It would be then known as "FF, the government brought down by drink"

Son Of A Vidic

Nothing would happen - this is Ireland. If the what happened last Saturday is the best we can muster, after the rape of our little nation by the ECB and IMF.Then Drink prices rising won't stir sh1t!

CantGetNoSleep

Cabaal wrote: »

The gov would make more money clearly....

Ni gov would anyway, ours would lose a lot, didn't duty on alcohol go down in the last budget?

Can only see a minimal increase, if any at all

Is mise le key

I have homebrewed now for the past 20 years, far cheaper & if you buy the right kits & quality ingredients far far far nicer than the swill you get from any bar or offo.

starbelgrade

maxfresh wrote: »

A lot more people would get addicted to prescription drugs.

A lot more people.

amy21

I'd be having a lot less sex

stovelid

I'd just mug rich teenage drinkers outside off-licenses.

kylith

The drug dealers will start doing a nice trade in bathtub hooch.

Plazaman

No difference whatsoever. To quote the little auld fella on TV3 last year after the budget, when asked "If the price of drinks goes up, will you stop drinking it?".

"I'll stop drinking it, when they stop making it"

Classic reply (and true)

Sykk

Taxes on high-strength beers and lagers are to be increased as part of a drive to encourage responsible drinking, it was announced today.

The additional duty will come into effect from autumn 2011 and will be imposed on beer with a strength above 7.5% alcohol by volume, said Downing Street.
Meanwhile, duties on low-alcohol beers with a strength of 2.8% or less will be reduced.
The amount of the new tax will be revealed by Chancellor George Osborne in his Budget next spring.
Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman declined to comment on its size, but said it was intended to be large enough to influence drinkers' behaviour.
This follows news that vouchers could be dished out to help "nudge" people towards healthier lifestyle choices under a shake-up of public health which will be unveiled later.
The Government will set out plans for giving councils responsibility for public health issues.
Ministers hope this will make it easier to join up services such as transport, leisure facilities and housing and help them tackle obesity, smoking and drinking head-on.
Local public health directors will work for local authorities instead of the NHS under the proposals.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley believes people should be offered incentives to encourage them to make better choices. In turn, councils will be incentivised to get good results.
The changes will be about behaviour not just introducing laws, he has said.

Andrew Lansley believes people must also take responsibility for themselves
"People do have personal responsibility as well," he told the BBC ahead of the announcement.
"The question of whether people smoke is just not an issue of whether the government has passed legislation or not."
A pot of money from the NHS will be ring-fenced to pay for the ideas as local government budgets face severe cuts.
"Health premiums" - extra cash - will be directed towards the poorest areas.
Mr Lansley will set out his ideas in more detail to MPs at 3.30pm but many of the details about how smoking, obesity and booze-culture will be addressed will not be published until next year.
Prime Minsiter David Cameron has put the "nudge" idea at the centre of his agenda and created a team to look at how behavioural economic and market forces can encourage people to make better choices.

That's in Britain, just been announced. We're next.

clived2

Shelves would be cleared of Listerine

JayEnnis

Now lad..

Don't be giving that shower of cúnts any ideas.

waxon-waxoff

There would have to be a national protest.... preferably on a Saturday night.

Drummerboy2

I'd expect wine to be targeted for an increase in excise duty.

FreudianSlippers

I'm getting, genuinely, so frustrated with this situation.

People are so thick (not talking about OP, but the general population).


Whoever is the one that thinks that raising price of drink and cigarettes is a good idea is smoking some serious crack and/or has no working knowledge of economics.
I'm always harping on in AH about how even a slight understanding of economics would make this country a better place, but no - people want to think from their heart rather than their brain.

Here is why it's dumb as shít to raise the prices of cigs and booze.


NOBODY WILL BLOODY BUY THEM

On the TV last night a big thing about illegal importation of cigarettes and the whole time I was thinking "lower the price of cigarettes"

They're complaining that we're losing tax revenue... LOWER THE PRICES.

Seriously, it does not seem to compute in their tiny brains that raising the price of things does not increase more revenue, in fact the polar opposite is true.

The same reason that raising the VAT rate is bollox. :mad: I'm seriously pissed off. They should lower VAT to 15% for a year and let people go spending crazy.

Think of it this way, if VAT this Christmas is 23% and €50mil is spent that means that the tax take is €11.5mil.
If VAT was lowered to 15% I would estimate that the people would spend twice as much buying gifts. I take into account now the fact that many people are going to the UK to purchase goods - if the prices were lower, then people would factor in cost of travelling to UK and the fact that goods here were now at an equivalent price to the UK and would decide it was not worth it. In reality, the figures would probably be more than twice as much IMO.
I digress... if VAT was 15% and €100mil was spent that is 15million in tax revenue.

It doesn't take a member of mensa to figure this out does it?



Same with cigarettes. Say they cost €9 in shop and €5 on the black market, surely if they went down to €7 not everyone would choose to purchase them legally, but I would imagine quite a significant amount would choose to acquire legal smokes, right?!
in 2007 it was estimated that 29% of people in Ireland smoked. 2009 survey says 4,450,446 in Ireland - that is about 1,201,620 smokers. Say 50% of them purchase cigarettes legally.

If all of those 50% buy 1 pack a week at €9 and tax is 61% (which I believe is the average tax in Ireland at the moment) that means currently the tax take is about €3,298,447 a week.(50% of 1,201,620 is 600,810; 600,810*9=5,407,290; 61% of 5,407,290=3,298,446.90)


If tax was lowered to 50% (which would make cigarettes approximately €7 in shops) and 20% more people (of the smokers) bought cigarettes legally, we have 841,134 people buying 1 pack of cigarettes legally per week @ €7.
€5,887,938 in sales per week 50% tax is €2,943,969 a week.
Now I realise this number is lower, but it doesn't accurately reflect the position. You have increased sales in shops and businesses, decrease in crime and money spent on fighting crime, etc.
It also doesn't factor in that most people buy a lot more than 1 pack per week, which raises the figure dramatically.

ejmaztec

Drummerboy2 wrote: »

I'd expect wine to be targeted for an increase in excise duty.

We wouldn't need a bailout if they decided to tax whine in this country

FoxT

Bathtub Gin
would come back in
and poitin stills a-plenty
with home shebeens
back on the scene
'twould be like 1920!

Kold

Booze? That's a rich man's drug.

I'll stick to my few lines of charlie to chill out in the evening.

mikemac

OisinT wrote: »

Think of it this way, if VAT this Christmas is 23% and €50mil is spent that means that the tax take is €11.5mil.
If VAT was lowered to 15% I would estimate that the people would spend twice as much buying gifts.

A big assumption

Charlie McCreevy lowered the vate rate before, just 1% I believe. And there was no increase in tax revenue, it was felt that retailers were pocketing the difference.
So they put it back up again

The same may happen again, consumer may see some savings but not big savings. The difference gets pocketed by the retailers

Yakult

I agree with OisinT.

The government brought it on themselves .Yet they blame the people who buy them and sell them...
Well Im sorry you idiots on control, but with all the unemployment and people having less money I think its time you got with the ****ing times and started given a **** about people. (Not just price of fags but the whole cost of living in this ****hole country)

If not, I hope the illegal ciggarettes boom and they start losing money big time. They dont deserve anything.

FoxT

The elasticity of demand argument (OisinT above) makes some sense but there are other factors to take into account.

Everybody knows we are in for 3-4 tough budgets. Because of this, Irish people are spending less , as they try to increase savings and/or reduce borrowings. I think that reducing taxes will not result in a significant increase in consumer spending, or in the ensuing tax take. if taxes are reduced then I expect people will save more, rather than spend more - and this attitude will be with us for at least the next 12 to 18 months.

Reducing tax on cigarettes will not result in a rise in consumption either - but it may increase the tax take if it results in a collapse of the smuggling trade.

ejmaztec

FoxT wrote: »

The elasticity of demand argument (OisinT above) makes some sense but there are other factors to take into account.

Everybody knows we are in for 3-4 tough budgets. Because of this, Irish people are spending less , as they try to increase savings and/or reduce borrowings. I think that reducing taxes will not result in a significant increase in consumer spending, or in the ensuing tax take. if taxes are reduced then I expect people will save more, rather than spend more - and this attitude will be with us for at least the next 12 to 18 months.

Reducing tax on cigarettes will not result in a rise in consumption either - but it may increase the tax take if it results in a collapse of the smuggling trade.

There's more chance of an end to prostitution.

bc dub

If they sky rocketed the price up, I'd just smoke more weed and take more e's.

the two things we can rest assured will not be affected by the budget.

PeterIanStaker

They should leave the price of drink as it is. Bad enough the feckin offies closing at 10 in this nanny state, if they put up the price of a pint they'd lose revenue in a big way.

Wingman2010

I doubt they will increase drink at all in the budget. Not that it will make a slight bit of difference to the ridiculous way drink is treated by some people in this country. There is a serious drink problem in this country and with so many politicians with vested interest in pubs they haven't the balls to do anything about it. People will always find the means to get drink, no matter what the price it is. If I do recall Michael McDowell tried to bring some reform into this industry but he was shot down; surprise susprise!

candy-gal1

If that does come in, and theres no drinks promos at all anymore, then an at home boozer FTW

Funkfield

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

They should leave the price of drink as it is. Bad enough the feckin offies closing at 10 in this nanny state, if they put up the price of a pint they'd lose revenue in a big way.

I've been thinking about this for quite a while. What if they lowered the price of drink in the budget. If they knocked a euro off the pint surely people would start going out more. It would encourage spending and would be something to take the edge off the current atmosphere of doom and gloom.

As OisinT was saying, surely some revenue is better than none at all.

Pace2008

I'd keep taking better drugs and drinking 1-2 pints per night.

JONJO THE MISER

*Opens bottle of ale*

bonerm

clived2 wrote: »

Shelves would be cleared of Listerine

Which is why Aboriginal's have the freshest breath in the world.

Quiet you

Problem solved............ http://www.ehow.com/how_4814370_make-simple-moonshine-still-home.html

rossie1977

OisinT wrote: »

Whoever is the one that thinks that raising price of drink and cigarettes is a good idea is smoking some serious crack and/or has no working knowledge of economics.

???

basic economics 101 teaches you that tobacco is an inelastic product but MAY become elastic depending on the financial situation of the consumer in the long run