【日本10月起啤酒減稅,便宜的第三類啤酒反而加稅 🍻】
10月1日起,日本一罐350毫升啤酒的酒稅從63.35日圓降到54.25日圓,發泡酒和第三類啤酒則從46.99日圓升到54.25日圓。三種酒第一次繳一樣的稅。
第三類啤酒本身就是酒稅造出來的產品。日本過去依麥芽比例課稅,啤酒最重,酒廠就開發出麥芽較少的發泡酒,後來又做出幾乎不用麥芽、改用豆類原料或加入烈酒調製的第三類啤酒,靠低稅率賣低價。2020年以前,第三類啤酒一罐的稅只有28日圓,不到啤酒77日圓的四成。
政府從2020年10月起分三階段拉近稅率,這次是最後一步。稅差消失,第三類啤酒便宜的理由也跟著消失。三得利已經把主力產品「金麥」的麥芽比例提高到五成以上,改以正式啤酒的身分販售,業界稱這波變化為「回歸啤酒」。
受影響最大的是在物價上漲中改喝便宜酒的家庭,每罐多出約7日圓的稅。對酒廠來說,這反而是把產品線收回啤酒、拉高售價的機會,接下來要看消費者願不願意為真啤酒多付一點。
資料來源:日本經濟新聞、Vino Joy News(圖片來自 @ooLUCINOoo)
Japan Cuts Beer Tax in October While Raising It on Cheap Third-Category Beer
From October 1, Japan's tax on a 350ml can of beer falls from ¥63.35 to ¥54.25, while the tax on happoshu and third-category beer rises from ¥46.99 to ¥54.25. For the first time, all three pay the same tax.
Third-category beer is itself a product of the tax code. Japan used to tax beer-like drinks by malt content, with beer taxed most heavily, so brewers developed low-malt happoshu and later third-category drinks that use almost no malt, relying on bean-based ingredients or added spirits, and sold them cheaply thanks to lower tax rates. Before 2020, a can of third-category beer carried only ¥28 in tax, less than 40% of beer's ¥77.
The government began narrowing the rates in three steps in October 2020, and this is the final one. With the tax gap gone, the reason third-category beer was cheap disappears too. Suntory has already raised the malt content of its main product, Kinmugi, to at least 50% and now sells it as real beer, a shift the industry calls a "return to beer."
The households hit hardest are those that switched to cheaper drinks as prices rose, since each can now carries about ¥7 more in tax. For brewers, it is a chance to pull their lineups back into beer and charge more. The next question is whether consumers will pay a little extra for the real thing.
Source: Nikkei, Vino Joy News (Image: @ooLUCINOoo)