No Further Hikes to Alcohol Tax in Store
Image: YLE / Juha-Pekka Inkinen
The government is not planning any new increases to the tax on alcohol, despite a report on YLE over the weekend that another hike in alcohol taxes is being planned for January 2010.
”We haven’t had any discussions on new hikes for next year. Naturally, the government can always decide to levy new hikes, but at the moment there haven’t been any discussions on new increases to the alcohol tax,” says Anita Sihvola, Communications Director at the Ministry of Finance.
Alcohol taxes have been raised twice already this year. Most recently, a 10 percent increase came into force at the beginning of this month.
Health experts fear that increases to alcohol duties in Finland will inevitably boost Finnish passenger imports from Estonia. It is, however, still too early to determine whether the tax hike this month has increased personal imports. Estonia is meanwhile planning to raise its alcohol duty at the beginning of next year.
Higher Alcohol Taxes Have Not Caused Rush to Estonia
YLE