Off-sales: Report said government should seek to change EU pricing rules. Pic: © STV
Changes to the taxation system could be preferable to minimum unit pricing in order to raise the price of alcohol, a report has suggested.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said introducing a minimum unit price of 45p, the level proposed by the Scottish Government when it sought to bring in the policy in 2010, would transfer £1.4bn from consumers to producers and retailers.
Its report, Small Beer? Assessing the Government's alcohol policies, said: "If the intention is to raise the overall price of alcohol, it would seem preferable that these revenues flow to the government instead."
The SNP Government is set to bring in the minimum price as part of plans to tackle Scotland's booze culture, although the move was defeated by the Holyrood opposition in 2010.
No official minimum price has been announced yet.
Meanwhile the UK Government, which is responsible for alcohol taxation, has announced higher taxes for strong beers and reduced taxes for low-strength beers, and also plans to ban "below-cost" sales.
But the report found that these two reforms would have "only marginal effects" on the alcohol market, while minimum pricing across Britain would directly affect 71% of off-licence alcohol units, and nearly 9 out of 10 households which buy off-licence alcohol.
The report said: "Annual real-terms increases in alcohol duties to 2014-15 are planned, but more fundamental change to the structure of alcohol taxes should be pursued as well.
"At the moment, different types and strengths of alcohol are taxed at very different effective rates per unit, without a clear rationale.
"Whilst the tax system could not easily replicate a minimum price directly, a sensible starting point would be to tax all alcohol equally on the basis of alcohol content, perhaps in conjunction with a below-cost ban.
"Such a reform would require a change in EU directives which restrict the basis on which alcohol is taxed, and the government should seek to make this happen."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "In a society where a man's weekly alcohol limit can be bought for about £4 and a teenager can consume enough alcohol to kill themselves for under £5, tackling price is nothing short of essential.
"Evidence shows us that affordability is one of the drivers of increased consumption, and minimum pricing will target heavy drinkers as they tend to drink the cheap, high-strength alcohol that will be most affected by the policy.
"Put simply, we believe alcohol duty would not achieve the same public health objectives as it would not have the same targeted effect as a minimum price per unit."
But shadow public health minister Dr Richard Simpson said: "This powerful report from the highly-respected IFS blows the biggest hole yet in the flawed logic behind the SNP's minimum unit pricing plans.
"Scottish Labour is absolutely determined to tackle Scotland's drink problem, but we do not believe that minimum unit pricing is the answer as it will deliver a multi-million windfall for big supermarkets without providing a single extra penny for our NHS, it will not target problem drinks, could lead to significant cross- border issues and big questions still remain over whether these plans will be struck down in the courts.
"We all share the ambition to tackle Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but it is if we are to seriously tackle the problem we need to come up with responses which recognise its complexity.
"The SNP are under the illusion that minimum unit pricing is some sort of magic silver bullet, but unfortunately no one measure is going to tackle Scotland's relationship with alcohol."
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