# Alcohol taxes

- Link: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/alcohol-taxes/
- Published: 2025-01-02T15:30:58+02:00
- Author: dearSA

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### **181**** **comments delivered to the government (closed 14 January 2025)

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### The National Treasury published discussion documents and policy proposals on the taxation of alcoholic beverages.

With the introduction of ‘low-alcohol’ wine (0.5% to 4.5% alcohol content), this
new segment poses equity concerns in the context of harm reduction through the tax
system.

One of the proposed solutions to this is to separate wines into different bands,
where the low-alcohol content wines stay at the current tax rate, and higher alcohol-
content wines are taxed higher (thus carrying higher pricing) up to 1.8 times the
current rate.

With this publication, the National Treasury requests stakeholders to submit detailed
written comments and proposals to assist government to further develop an appropriate
excise policy framework to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. After the public consultation
process is concluded, the draft proposals will be revised to consider public comments
and announcements will be made in the 2025 Budget.

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### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The discussion document covers developments in the alcoholic beverages industry,
including changes in the regulatory landscape, the prevalence of alcohol consumption,
illicit trade in alcoholic beverages, international observations on alcohol taxation,
the potential use of minimum unit pricing in the long term, and other administrative
policy considerations in line with the concerns that have been raised by stakeholders.

The harmful use of alcohol is one of the leading risk factors for population health
worldwide and has a direct impact on many health-related targets of the Sustainable
Development Goals. Overall, 5.1 per cent of the global burden of disease and injury
is attributable to alcohol, as measured in disabilityadjusted life years. The World
Health Organisation (WHO) reports that worldwide, harmful use of alcohol results
in over 3.3 million deaths (representing 5.3 per cent of all deaths) every year 
and is a causal factor in more than 200 diseases and injuries (WHO, 2018).

There is therefore renewed focus on accelerating the implementation of the WHO Global
Strategy through the development of an Action Plan (2022 – 2030) to effectively 
implement the Global Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health
priority. South Africa, as a Member State, is committed to working on and implementing
the WHO guidelines and recommendations, to address the harmful use of alcohol in
the country.

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