Cape Town - Smokers and drinkers will have to once again fork out more Rands and cents for their fix.
Tabling his Budget Speech on Wednesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the tax burden benchmarks for alcoholic beverages would be reviewed in a consultative process to start this year.
While no increase in the excise duty on traditional beer is proposed, taxes on beer and ciders would be hiked by 8.2 percent. This means a bottle of beer or cider (340ml) will increase by 6.5c.
Wine would be hiked by 8 percent and spirits by 8.3 percent. This means a bottle of wine (750ml) will go up by 12c, while a bottle of spirits (750ml) will cost R2.22 more.
Tax on cigarettes would increase by 16.1 percent which is an effective R1.24 for a box of 20 cigarettes.
