It’s almost enough to turn you to drink… if you can afford it.
In what has to be the most depressing thing to read this side of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a new report titled ‘Tax on Alcohol in Europe: Where Does Ireland Rank?,’ by Dublin City University economist Tony Foley, will probably put a dampener on your weekend.
For those who may not know, excise duty is a specific tax levied per unit of alcohol in a drink.
In the related report, which was commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), they found that in addition to having the second highest excise duty on beer, Ireland also has the second highest excise duty on alcohol overall (behind Finland), the highest wine excise, and the third highest spirits excise (behind Finland and Sweden) in the entirety of the EU.
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Foley said of the findings: ‘When compared with the rest of the EU, Ireland’s alcohol excise duty is very high across all drinks categories; only Finland ranks ahead of us. Put another way, Ireland’s alcohol excise duty is 150% higher than 24 of the other 27 EU member states. Combined with VAT and retail price, this means alcohol is comparatively more expensive in Ireland than it is in many other European countries.’
Hope that hasn’t ruined your weekend, folks!
