Think Tank appeals for 'treatment tax' on off-trade sales
2014
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think tank set up in 2004 to tackle Britain's deepest social problems and the experience of those whose lives have been affected by poverty, has recommended a number of measures to tackle drink and drug addiction including a 'treatment tax'.
This tax would only apply to off-trade alcohol sales - i.e. it would exclude any sales in pubs or restaurants.
The treatment tax proposal would see the following levy per unit of alcohol being added on drinks purchased outside pubs between 2015 and 2024.
- Half a pence on a unit between 2015 and 2017;
- One pence on a unit between 2018 and 2020;
- One and a half pence on a unit between 2021 and 2023;
- Two pence on a unit from 2024 onwards.
This could mean about 18p added to the price of a bottle of wine after 2024.
It is estimated that the tax would raise £155m a year from 2015, rising to over £520m a year from 2024.
The CSJ has stated that the money raised from the tax "would be spent solely on setting up a network of abstinence-based rehabilitation centres and funding sessions within them".
Full details on the proposed Treatment Tax can be found at page 61 of the report which can be viewed here: 'Ambitious for Recovery - Tackling drug and alcohol addiction in the UK'.