What the 2023 Spring Budget means for the price of a pint, a pack of cigarettes and sugary drinks
Tax on a pint at the pub has been frozen, but the cost of other alcoholic drinks is set to increase in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) from August, following today's Spring Budget.
Duties on 'sin taxes' were frozen last year. However, the tax on tobacco products will rise from tomorrow, while drinkers will see increased tax on most alcohol products from the summer.
Draught beer is the exception, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announcing that pubs will pay up to 11p less tax on a pint than supermarkets, dubbed the Brexit Pubs Guarantee.
Here, Which? explains how the Spring Budget affects the cost of your drinks, cigarettes and soft drinks.
- Find out more: what the Spring Budget means for your money
Alcohol duties
Alcohol tax will rise in line with the RPI – at 10.1% – for most drinks from August 2023, but the duty charged on a typical pint of beer in pubs across the UK will be frozen.
By increasing 'draught relief' from 5% to 9.2%, the tax on a pint of cider or beer that you buy at the pub will effectively stay the same.
Alcohol duty is included in the price you pay for beer, cider or perry, spirits, wine or 'made-wine', any alcoholic drink made by fermentation that's not cider, such as mead.
At the moment, the amount you pay depends on the type and strength of the drink or alcohol by volume (ABV), with different rates for still and sparkling in the cases of wine and cider. For example, you currently pay 54p tax on a pint of 5% strength lager.
The government has said it will legislate to change the way alcoholic products are taxed by introducing standardised bands based on ABV. The changes, detailed below, are expected to take effect from 1 August 2023.
This will see the duty on a bottle of wine go up by 44p, the biggest single increase in 50 years, while fortified wines such as port are set to rise by £1.30 a bottle, according to The Wine and Spirit Trade Association.
| Product | Duty rate from 1 August 2023 (per litre of alcohol in the product) |
|---|---|
| All alcoholic products: less than 3.5% ABV | £9.27 |
| Still or sparkling cider and perry: more than 3.5% but less than 8.5% ABV | £9.67 |
| Beer: at least 3.5% but less than 8.5% ABV | £21.01 |
| Spirits, wine, and other fermented products: at least 3.5% but less than 8.5% ABV | £24.77 |
| Sparkling cider and perry: exceeding 5.5% ABV but less than 8.5% ABV | £24.77 |
| All alcoholic products: at least 8.5% but not exceeding 22% ABV | £28.50 |
| All alcoholic products: exceeding 22% ABV | £31.64 |
Tobacco duties
Smokers face steep increases, as the duty on cigarettes will rise by RPI plus 2%, which could add around £1.75 to the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes, while the duty on hand-rolling tobacco will increase by RPI plus 6%.
These changes will take effect from 6pm on 15 March 2023.
All tobacco products are liable for duty, although you pay different amounts depending on whether you're buying cigarettes, cigars or other tobacco products.
The government increased the excise duty rate on all tobacco products twice in 2020 and then again in 2021 (you can view details of these changes on gov.uk).
There were no changes announced in 2022. However, today the Chancellor said smokers will pay more on all tobacco products.
E-cigarettes don't contain tobacco and are therefore not liable for tobacco duty.
| Duty rate 2022 | Duty rate 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cigarettes | 16.5% of the retail price plus £5.26 on a packet of 20 | 16.5% of the retail price plus £5.89 on a packet of 20 |
| Rolling tobacco | £9.07 on a 30g packet | £10.53 on a 30g packet |
| Pipe and other | £4.33 on a 30g packet | £4.85 on a 30g packet |
| Cigars | £3.28 on a 10g cigar | £3.68 per 10g cigar |
| Tobacco for heating | £8.10 per 30g | £9.09 per 30g |
Sugar tax
There's little change for people who opt for a soft drink rather than a beer at the bar.
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy, aka the sugar tax, aims to encourage manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of drinks to below the taxable thresholds.
In line with recent Budget announcements, there is no change to this tax, so for the 2023-24 tax year, the rates remain at:
- 24p per litre if it contains 8g or more of sugar per 100ml.
- 18p per litre if it contains more than 5g and less than 8g of sugar per 100ml.
