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Huge costs for drinks firms if Scotland gets control of duty

Published:  10 October, 2011

Drinks businesses could face having to divide up their operations to deal with different tax regimes if the Scottish government manages to gain control of its own alcohol duties.

Drinks businesses could face having to divide up their operations to deal with different tax regimes if the Scottish government manages to gain control of its own alcohol duties.


The Scottish government is seeking control of alcohol duty from Westminster - it says that the move, along with minimum pricing, would help address the country's alcohol problems.


The call forms part of a paper sent to Westminster outlining six demands for changes to the Scotland Bill.



The paper makes it clear that allowing the tax to be devolved would allow the government to "set the most appropriate excise duty regime for Scotland", which would run "alongside our minimum pricing policy" as an "additional and complementary tool".

Scotland got £777 million as its per capita share of alcohol duties last year, but maintains that it all the tax was handed back that would rise to £816 million.

It had previously been suggested that the new duty system could be used instead of minimum pricing, but the paper firmly rules this out. 


"During scrutiny of the Alcohol Bill passed by the previous Scottish Parliament, some advocated the use of the excise duty system as an alternative to minimum pricing. Successive UK governments have failed to make the necessary changes and it is clear that Scotland cannot rely upon Westminster to take decisive action."



The WSTA's Gavin Partington said: "It seems unlikely the UK government will wish to agree to devolve taxes such as excise duty but we would be concerned about the impact of such a move on businesses operating across the UK as a single market.


"It would require WSTA members to divide specific parts of their operations up to account for them under different tax regimes, with all the additional costs that that entails. It would also encourage cross-border trade, legal or otherwise and it's hard to see how that would benefit the government or taxpayers in Scotland."

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