The feds have been bingeing on alcohol tax hikes since the 2017 budget. That year, the Trudeau government introduced an automatic tax hike escalator. That means the federal excise tax automatically increases with inflation every year on Apr. 1 (Yeah, April Fools Day, just like the annual increases in Carbon Tax & MP Salaries). With inflation having reached a nearly 40-year high, Canadians are facing a sky-high tax hike of 6.3% in 2023. For perspective:
Taxes already account for about half of the price of beer, 65% of the price of wine and more than three-quarters of the price of spirits. You could spend about $125 if you pick up two bottles of wine, a 24-pack of beer and a 26-ounce bottle of whisky. You’re paying more than $76 of that tab just in taxes.
In fact, Canadians pay so much tax that picking up a case of beer on the way to the New Year’s Eve party in Prince Edward Island would cost you more in taxes than the total retail price of a case of beer in 25 American states.
With sky-high inflation, climbing interest rates and carbon tax hikes, you could be forgiven for drinking. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rubbing margarita salt in the wound by using high inflation to binge on higher alcohol taxes. In 2023, the Trudeau government is increasing the taxes...
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While Canadians are paying higher taxes, Americans are enjoying tax cuts. From 2017 to 2019, federal beer taxes
went up $34 million for large brewers in Canada while going down $31 million south of the border.