The tax on beer

There's an interesting debate going on at Tandleman's blog about the relationship between the price of a pint and the level of taxation on beer.

Although I support CAMRA's campaign to cut tax on beer, I know that there are other factors pushing up the price of a pint, including rising fuel and raw material costs. I also agree that international comparisons can be misleading: beer might only be taxed at 12p a pint in Poland but at 50p a pint that's twenty-four per cent of the total compared to around eighteen per cent in England.

The price of beer is not just determined by how much it costs to produce but how much people are prepared to pay for it, as anyone who's bought drinks at a football match or music gig will know. The answer is not just to cut the tax on beer but also introduce maximum prices as well.