A taste for hard liquor will soon cost a few dollars more as government yesterday said it plans to adjust the system used to determine the tax on alcoholic beverages.
The move was announced by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, during his presentation on the 2016 national budget, as “a measure to bring equity to the charging of excise tax on alcoholic beverages.”
Alcohol content is usually measured by volume with most beers and ciders ranging from 3% to 10%, wines from 8% to 22% and spirits (hard liquor) from 20% to 98% on average.
Jordan said he proposes to amend the Excise Tax Act to provide a new basis for the imposition of the tax on alcohol for consumption.
“The intent is to introduce a graduated, specific rate system for the collection of excise tax on alcohol based on the alcoholic strength. This is deemed to be the most effective way of dealing with importers and domestic manufacturers of alcoholic beverages. It will also be easier for the Guyana Revenue Authority [GRA] to administer as well as reduce significantly, opportunities for manipulating the values of the goods for the purpose of taxation,” he explained.
Last year, the GRA had announced that it was undertaking a review of the excise tax on alcoholic beverages, while noting that several other Caricom states had moved from the application of the ad valorem tax (a tax based on a fixed percentage of the product value) to specific tax (a tax calculated based on the alcoholic strength.)
At the time, it had planned to meet local manufacturers and importers to discuss the impending changes and implications of the reform process.
