Now this really is a good idea

[chip]

Hewitt asks for alcohol tax rise

Tax on alcohol should rise to reduce binge drinking among teenagers, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has said.

Ms Hewitt urged chancellor Gordon Brown to "really increase" taxes on alcohol, especially on drinks such as alcopops, most popular with young people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6089784.stm

Its time that drinkers paid the full price for their destructive, unhealthy and anti-social behavior. I'd like to see the tax raised by at least £1 per unit of alcohol.

 

[Da Man Clay]

 

[JJ McClure]

Oh well, more day trips to france then.

 

[ali jenkins]

No its a stupid idea.

If people who sell alcohol are doing there jobs properly then there shouldnt be anyone under 18 drinking!

And before you all start, i do know how difficult it is to stop EVERY person under age getting hold of drinks but you can stop a large percentage of them!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

No its a stupid idea.

If people who sell alcohol are doing there jobs properly then there shouldnt be anyone under 18 drinking!

And before you all start, i do know how difficult it is to stop EVERY person under age getting hold of drinks but you can stop a large percentage of them!

It is not just aimed at the underage drinkers. It is to tackle the problem that blights Britain. Binge drinking!!

 

[crosbysleftear]

Blights my head this morning. *feels sorry for self*

 

[The Large One]

If all landlords and managers adhered to the Licensing Objectives properly, like they're supposed to, there wouldn't be half the problems that there are.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

I just love the F**king Irony here.

Argument goes like this:

Licencing laws relaxed
Pubs open longer
People go in pubs
get pished
fight / puke etc.
Govt. Slams drunkeness
increase tax on booze
people in pubs all night paying lots of lovely tax
Govt.

 

[The Large One]

'Binge drinking', while being a serious issue, is not the great plague sweeping over our nation that the tabloid would have us believe, and the change in drinking hours has not materialised into Britain becoming a natio of 24-hours drinkers. It never was, it was always tabloid bollocks. Sure there are binge drinkers, and we will still get them, but the societal change has yet to kick in. We have had 90 years of pubs closing at 11pm, while in Europe, it can often be as late as when the last person leaves. This shift will take another five years to really kick in.

Point is, just about every police force is reporting a drop in drunken crime since the licensing laws came into being, so it is having a small but immediate effect.

Education is what's required. If it can be done with regard to Jamie's School Dinners, it can be done with alcohol, and I don't just mean school education. Like with these dinners, it's the adults that need educating.

 

[TelscombeGull]

Hewitt asks for alcohol tax rise

Tax on alcohol should rise to reduce binge drinking among teenagers, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has said.

Ms Hewitt urged chancellor Gordon Brown to "really increase" taxes on alcohol, especially on drinks such as alcopops, most popular with young people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6089784.stm

Its time that drinkers paid the full price for their destructive, unhealthy and anti-social behavior. I'd like to see the tax raised by at least £1 per unit of alcohol.

By that logic we should already have the lowest levels of binge drinking in Europe as we already have by far the greatest levels of tax on alcohol than any other European country!

Crap logic; doesn't work!

 

[chip]

I don't care if the logic works. I am more interested in the idea that the people who drink excessively pay a fair share of the cost of dealing with the consequences of that drinking. It does cost money to provide the policing necessary in town centres, A&E departments are overwhelmed at weekends with drinkers. Alcohol is a key factor in obesity, diabetes and CVD all of which are expensive to treat and are life-long. How much domestic violence is exacerbated by alcohol? Over consumption does lead to antisocial behavior and a rise in random violence and is the biggest single cause of lost working days. It is only fair that this should be reflected in the rate of taxation attached to alcohol.

Some people think that I should have to pay more tax for my Land Rover because it uses more fuel and "damages" the environment. I just think that the same idea should be applied to drinkers to make them pay a fair price that really reflects the true costs of their habit.

TC: I think you will find that Denmark, Sweden and Finland have far higher taxes on alcohol than we do.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If you want to tackle binge drinking you have to tackle the place drink has in our culture. IMO to do that the first thing you need to change is the acceptance of getting drunk. Unlike in some other cultures where being pissed in looked down on, here it is positively celebrated and is a right of passage and you won't change that by adding a few pence to the price of a bacardi breezer.

 

[Bakesy]

It is not just aimed at the underage drinkers. It is to tackle the problem that blights Britain. Binge drinking!!

Without BINGE DRINKING football at Withdean would be UNBEARABLE.

 

[Berk (of 'Trapdoor' fame)]

a key factor in obesity, diabetes and CVD all of which are expensive to treat and are life-long.

Therefore fat people should have to pay increased tax also?

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Last night (particularly being half term), I threw about 10 kids out of the pub for not having ID. I also refused to serve 2 people for being way too drunk. Its not hard to counter the problems associated with drinking, putting the price up is not the issue, will just go further to potentially kill a valuable trade.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I. I just think that the same idea should be applied to drinkers to make them pay a fair price that really reflects the true costs of their habit. .

But you're talking about 2 different things. 4x4 cars, and I don't want to get into this debate as I'd love to have one myself, cause this extended damage, thats a fact. But not everyone who has a drink is going to end up causing criminal damage or going to A&E.

So why should someone going for a few quiet beers to watch the football be forced to contribute because of binge drinkers? Unless the tax is only going to applicable if bar staff suspect its binge drinking/trouble-makers...

 

[Simster]

If you want to tackle binge drinking you have to tackle the place drink has in our culture. IMO to do that the first thing you need to change is the acceptance of getting drunk. Unlike in some other cultures where being pissed in looked down on, here it is positively celebrated and is a right of passage and you won't change that by adding a few pence to the price of a bacardi breezer.

I totally agree with this - which is why the changes to licensing laws are welcome. Hopefully, the whole culture of getting hammered before 11pm will shrink drastically after a couple of decades...

 

[Pavilionaire]

Whilst binge drinking and the attendant trouble caused is undesirable at least the problem is contained and localised. If young people are priced out of going to the pub they'll just get hold of alcohol some other way and drink in parks, shopping centres etc, and that will impact upon far more people and probably result in more crime.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

In my opinion, drinking will be the new smoking in 20 years time. People getting drunk will be frowned upon. I remember when I was a kid my step-dad had a "well deserved" cigar after work. Now people have a "well-deserved" drink. That will change.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I don't think drink is the problem. I think it's how selfishly people want to behave towards others that's the problem. Drink just enables that to happen more quickly by reducing people's inhibitions about their behaviour.

I and most people I know, drink but I don't think - the odd sly misplaced piss when there's no other option aside - that I behave that badly when I do. Bear in mind that other countries drink MORE alcohol per capita but don't have these problems with anti-social behaviour. It's too easy just to blame the booze.