The Great Beer Tax Scam: The Freeze Changes Nothing—You’re Still Paying
You’ve probably been told, over and over, that it was created to curb alcohol abuse, to reduce violence, to make Australians healthier. That’s what the government says every time they raise it. It’s all for your own good, right? Wrong.
Because here’s the truth: the beer tax was never about public health. Not once. Not for a single day. It was always about money—your money—being funneled straight into government coffers.
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Let’s take a quick history lesson. The first alcohol taxes in Australia weren’t some noble effort to save lives. No, they were introduced in 1800 by Governor King in New South Wales as a way to raise money. And they worked. Alcohol taxes became one of the biggest revenue streams for colonial governments. By the time of Federation in 1901, the new federal government made sure it got a cut too. Interstate free trade was introduced, but alcohol taxes? Those stayed.
Fast forward to the 1980s, and the government started hitting spirits even harder than beer—why? Because they could. Then came the year 2000, when the Howard government introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST). And what did they do? They taxed the tax! That’s right—when you buy a beer, you’re not just paying the beer tax, you’re also paying GST on top of the excise tax.
And through it all, they’ve kept telling us it’s about public health. They even had the audacity to push the “alcopops tax” in 2008, claiming it was to stop binge drinking among young people. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) even backed higher alcohol taxes, saying they were necessary for public health. And in 2019, the government proudly announced a $140 million “investment” to tackle alcohol-related harm—while still pocketing billions in alcohol tax revenue.
So let’s get this straight: if this was ever about health, why has the government made more money from alcohol every single year? Why are they still double taxing Australians—once with excise tax, then again with GST? And if raising alcohol taxes actually reduced drinking, wouldn’t they be making less money, not more?
And now, after years of squeezing Australians dry, Labor and Liberal announce a two-year freeze—and expect a round of applause.
But let’s be clear about what this freeze actually means: you’re still paying the beer tax. It’s still there. You’re still getting double taxed on every single drink. The only thing that’s changing is that they won’t increase the biannual indexation on beer sold in pubs for two years.
- The freeze won’t start until August 2025.
- It only applies to draught beer—beer served from a keg or cask.
- It does NOT apply to bottled or canned beer.
So if you grab a six-pack from the bottle shop, tough luck—you’re still paying full price, with every single tax hike built in.
This isn’t generosity. It’s a desperate attempt to stop the backlash. Inflation is crushing families, small businesses are closing, and pubs are disappearing. Peter Dutton is right—pubs, clubs, and restaurants are struggling. He says it plainly:
“On Labor’s watch, 4,000 hospitality businesses have shut their doors—one in 11 going under in just the past six months.”
Labor and Liberal alike are pushing this tax while the hospitality industry crumbles. They know that if they keep raising the tax, there might not be any pubs left to tax.
So no, a two-year freeze isn’t enough. Australians deserve better. It’s time to stop pretending this was ever about public health. It’s time to stop letting politicians rob the public while lying about their motives. And most importantly—it’s time to end the double tax scam once and for all.
