Tax on alcohol to be raised by 2 per cent
Excise tax collected on alcohol sales would be raised about 2 per cent to raise an extra Bt2 billion a year to help subsidise local sports, which stand to lose significant sponsorship from the ban on alcohol advertising.
The tax rise was proposed by a government committee set up by the Cabinet to reassess the Alcohol Control Act, which met yesterday. The meeting approved raising the age limit at which people can buy alcohol from 18 to 20 years old. The committee, made up of officials from the Culture, Tourism and Sports, Education, Commerce, Justice, and Public Health ministries, is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras. Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said the tax-rise proposal stemmed from concern about the loss of Bt200 million worth of sponsorship a year from beverage companies that subsidised the sports sector - after the ban on alcohol ads, due to start in December. The tax rise would bring in more than Bt2 billion in excise income. The additional tax would be added to a 2-per-cent tax collected by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and could go to sports sponsorship. Officials at the meeting resolved to increase the minimum age at which people can purchase alcoholic drinks. The new proposed age limit - 20 years - replaces the original proposal to raise the minimum drinking age to 25 in the Alcohol Control Act. Cabinet said last week the issue should be reconsidered. Health Minister Mongkol said: "At the age of 20, people reach their maturity and can legally enter nightclubs. It would be convenient for officers and sellers to follow the law [for this age]." The revised bill will be put to the Cabinet next month. Prasarn Maruekkapitak, from the Social Venture Network, called on drink companies yesterday to support a 24-hour ban on alcohol ads, saying that alcohol producers made as much as Bt100 billion a year - while the health costs caused by alcohol were five times that amount. "From 1996 to 2003, the number of new drinkers aged from 11 to 19 increased by six times, or 1.6 million people. This means 32 per cent of people of that age became drinkers. The figures are shocking," he said. Meanwhile, Cabinet yesterday discussed road-safety measures for the New Year festival.
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