Alcopop Tax

I watched the budget response last night and to my surprise Brendan Nelson did a good job. He looked the part, was confident and forceful and looked a little bit like a leader. He used the opportunity as a platform to set up some sort of Liberal agenda and make a case for the Liberal point of view.

However, not backing the alcopop tax was a dumb move. Ok, it sure is a tax binge but it will still have an effect. Cigarettes are nearly knocked out of the culture by massive excises coupled with a prolonged campaign of vilification of smokers. By itself, a tax will fail to curb the excesses of binge drinking but a relentless campaign hammering piss-heads will eventually wind down the problem.

I was pretty disappointed with Joe Hockey’s parliamentary prop show where we brought in a bottle of alcopop and a similar sized bottle of wine. He claimed the following:

Premise 1. The wine and alcopop are the same size
Premise 2. The wine has higher alcohol levels.
Premise 3. The alcopop will be taxed higher.
Conclusion. Everyone will switch to wine and binge drinking will be the same.

Sorry Joe but that’s a non sequitur. The conclusion does not follow the premise.

The problem is not in the level of alcohol. It’s in the deceptive ease in which the alcopop can be consumed by stupid young girls. Wine has been made for thousands of years, Joe and a bottle can be bought for around $6. You can’t easily pour wine down your throat in high volumes without getting immediately ill. With alcopop you can. It’s like soft-drink. That’s the problem, not the ABV. Your argument was lame and should be easily destroyed by anyone except a Labor party member. Lucky for you.

You need to support the tax. It will stop kids pissing away their MacDonald’s money on these drinks and make them slow down. By the time they can afford to buy them they’ll be 38 years old and have reflux disorders or moved on to premium wine and beer which supports our fourth largest export market. Remember them? You Liberals are supposed to support these guys.

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