Extra taxes make beer unaffordable, so sign this petition

Drinking a beer will soon be something for the elite, as evidenced by the new tax and excise duty increase. We are not anti-government, but they will not take away affordable beer from us. And we are not the only ones who think this way, because a petition is currently being signed en masse.

We know, alcohol is bad and we shouldn’t promote it too much. Many people have problems with it, but on the other hand, beer is the lubricant of society. Moreover, when used moderately, there are even health benefits from barley tea, although you have to read them with a wink. In any case: this extra tax affects the common man and we include ourselves in that.

Petition against extra tax on beer

A petition against additional duties on beer has been signed 20,000 times in just a few days. The petition (which you can sign here) was created last weekend after the cabinet announced on Budget Day that it would introduce an additional increase on top of the change to the excise system as of January 1. As a result, the tax increase could amount to more than 50 percent, say trade organizations Nederlandse Brouwers and CRAFT.

On Budget Day, the outgoing cabinet presented the proposal for an additional excise duty increase as part of the 2024 Tax Plan. This concerns an increase in excise duty by 16.2 percent.

“But that is not the whole story,” emphasizes director Meint Waterlander of Nederlandse Brouwers. It has already been decided that a new system will be introduced for beer excise duties, which will also take into account exactly how much alcohol is in a beer. A glass of triple beer on a terrace could become about 30 cents more expensive due to the sum of changes, Waterlander calculates.

Cabinet and social security

According to CRAFT, which represents more than 170 independent brewers in the Netherlands, the increase is hitting the sector hard. “It is very sad to note that the government is talking about social security, but that the same cabinet has no regard for the social security of breweries,” says CRAFT chairman Jos Oostendorp. “Now that many breweries are having the greatest difficulty keeping their heads above water, I fear that the significant increase in excise duties as of January 1 could be the final blow for many breweries.”

The industry wants to present the petition ‘Prevent Extra Beer Tax’ to the House of Representatives on October 17. The brewers expect that more signatures will be added in the coming days by the many guardians of affordable beer in our country.