In line with projected inflation for next year, the government has decided to increase taxes on alcoholic beverages and soft drinks by 4%. Only wine managed to escape the tax increase.

As for tobacco, the tax on heated cigarettes will skyrocket by 6% next year, from €0.182 per gram to €0.193. Regarding a regular pack of tobacco, it is still not possible to understand the effective increase in the tax, since the specific component rose by 10%, from 102.01 euros per thousand cigarettes to 112.5 euros, but the ad valorem component fell from 14% to 12%.

According to a report by Dinheiro Vivo, the increase in the Tax on Alcohol, Alcoholic Beverages and Sugar Added Drinks (IABA) and the Tax on Tobacco (IT) will naturally have repercussions in an increase in prices for the final consumer.

Several sectors, especially in the area of ​​soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, have already contested the increase in the tax burden. The Portuguese Association of Non-Alcoholic Refreshing Drinks (PROBEB) points out that the IABA update "represents the continuity of a tax" that the association "considers unfair and discriminatory", Francisco Furtado Mendonça, director general of the association, told Dinheiro Vivo.

Brewers complaining

In the same vein, the brewers of Portugal regret the government's "insensitivity" to the importance of a sector "based on the national value chain, which represents 1.5% of GDP and more than 150,000 direct and indirect jobs", underlined Francisco Gírio, secretary general of the association. "The 4% increase in the IABA means that Portuguese beers will pay almost 22 euros per hectoliter of tax, when, in Spain, it will remain at 10 euros per hectoliter", he told Dinheiro Vivo, highlighting the "clear injustice" against other sectors that do not pay this special tax, such as wine.

On the spirits side, the feeling is also one of general discontent. For the secretary general of the National Association of Spirits Companies (ANEBE), João Vargas, "the increase of 4% for the category of spirits is not rational", pointing out that, in 2022, the sector had "a year of economic recovery after the pandemic", driven by the "great dynamics" of tourism, which made it possible to deliver to the State, in August, 36.1% more in taxes compared to the same month of 2021. In addition, he stressed that, in the first six months of the year, the sector did not have any tax increase - the 1% increase only came into force on July 1st -, which "demonstrates that it is possible for the State to collect more without increasing the excise tax", he argued.