Large rise in alcohol excise duties of 86 percent on year to July
Alcohol excise duties rose by 86 percent on year to July 2020 to €25 million. July also saw a rise on alcohol excise receipts compared with the previous month. Tobacco excise also rose over the same period, by 17 percent.
The increase comes after government excise duty cuts on beer and wines, which came into law in July 2019, at the beginning of the period covered, which, while bringing receipts down measure-for-measure, recouped a lot of alcohol custom which had gone elsewhere, particularly over the Latvian border, in search of lower prices – one of the main arguments for the excise cuts in fact.
Excise receipts in July 2019 had been €13 million.
Excise duty rise were highest across alcoholic drinks other than beer and wine, at €12.8 million. This was a 207 percent increase on year from €4 million. Excise duty on other alcohol rose 50 percent on the previous month.
Beer
Beer excise duty receipts rose 34 percent to €7.3 million, July 2019-July 2020.
Beer excise also increased 56 percent on month, June to July 2020, from €4.7 million.
Wine
Wine, also covered by last year's excise duty cuts, saw a 37 percent rise to €3.2 million on year to July, and a similar increase on the previous month to that of beer.
Revenues from fermented beverages as a whole rose by 17 percent to €1.7 million on year to July.
Tobacco
Tobacco excise duties rose 17 percent both on year to July and between June and July this year.
Cigarette excise duties rose 13 percent to €21.3 million, and by 15 percent between June and July.
An EU-wide ban on menthol cigarettes came into effect in May.
Excise on cigarillos saw a large rise, particularly on month between June and July, where there was a 93 percent rise to €459,600. This repeated a trend from last summer, when excise duties on cigarillos jumped from around €10,000 in June to €220,000 in July.
Excise duties on cigars fell 19 percent to €13,200 on year.
Excise on other tobacco products rose substantially on year too, doubling from €611,000 to €1.2 million.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte