Tax on liquor increased from today

The tax on liquor is increased with effect from today (November 13) in accordance with the budget proposals tabled in Parliament by the Finance Minister, the Excise Department announced.

Commissioner of Excise (Law Enforcement) Kapila Kumarasinghe, made this announcement in a media briefing held today.

Accordingly,
• Tax on special arrack from Rs. 3,800 to Rs. 4,180 increased by Rs. 380
• Tax on molasses, palmyra arrack, coconut attack, and seasoned arrack increased by Rs. 410
• Tax on locally-manufactured foreign liquor such as whiskey, brandy, gin and rum increased from Rs. 4,150 to Rs. 4,570 by Rs. 420

The tax hike is based on the amount of pure alcohol per liter of arrack, Mr. Kumarasinghe said adding that the intention of this move is to discourage the consumption of liquor with a higher percentage of pure alcohol.

In addition, the tax on imported wine has been increased up to Rs. 3,300. For beer with less than 5% of alcohol, the tax is hiked by Rs. 100 while the tax on beer with more than 5% of alcohol moved up by Rs. 250.

Accordingly, the tax for a 750 ml bottle of special arrack has risen by Rs. 96.14 while it was increased by Rs. 103.73 for other types of arrack.

In the meantime, the tax was increased by Rs. 3.10 for beer with less than 5% of alcohol per 625 ml and by Rs. 14.00 for beer with a higher percentage of alcohol.

The tax on locally-manufactured foreign wine went up by Rs. 126.84 per 750 ml.

The excise commissioner noted that the taxes are required to be paid on the quantity produced, although the liquor manufactured by these companies is not sold.

Thereby, there may be a further increase in the liquor prices when determining the retail price and the companies are legally authorized to do so, he added.

Speaking further, Mr. Kumarasinghe said a program is formulated to recycle or reuse the 250 ml bottles of alcohol in a bid to prevent the damages to the environment caused by improper disposal by consumers.