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'Axe the beer tax'
WRITING this weekly column is the perfect way to keep County Times readers updated with issues that are dominating MPs' time in Westminster and other issues that have been affecting people's daily lives closer to home.
Often a trickle of letters arrive in my office about a particular issue, the trickle grows and before I know it I'm being deluged by letters from people expressing their concern or their viewpoint.
It was the frequency of letters about failures at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, that led to that topic dominating so many of these articles and then to me establishing the campaign for a new hospital for the people of Horsham and Crawley.
A year or so ago I made no apology about the dozens of column inches that were given over to the campaigns to save our threatened post offices – this was an issue that affected so many local people so significantly.
This week, I'd like to turn readers' attention to an issue that has sparked letters and emails from so many local people that I have literally lost count and it's the nationwide campaign to 'axe the beer tax'.
Currently, a third of the price of every pint goes to the Chancellor in beer tax and currently 39 pubs close in Britain each week.
The Government plans to increase this tax by a further 40 per cent over the next four years which I'm sure would accelerate the rate of closures even further.
Readers could be forgiven for initially thinking – why is our MP so concerned about people drinking beer in pubs? Isn't this irresponsible seeing as society is so affected by binge drinking and alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour?
Well the answer's no and I'll explain why. Just like post offices, pubs are at the heart of our local communities – whether they are rural villages or parts of urban centres.
The vast majority of pub-goers are entirely sensible drinkers and yet they are being unfairly penalised. Drastic tax increases threaten pubs and the livelihood of their owners and staff whilst doing very little to tackle binge drinking.
Surely it would be better to reduce tax on lower alcohol beers and ciders and pay for it by increasing taxes on problem drinks – high strength ciders and alcopops, for example? Wouldn't it be better to actually enforce already existing laws to deal firmly with irresponsible drinkers and premises, trusting adults to make informed choices instead of penalising sensible drinkers and wiping out more cherished pubs?
I'd like to encourage readers who are concerned about this issue and agree with these ideas to sign the online petition to 'Save the Great British Pub' at conservatives.com.
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Weather for Horsham
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
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