Most alcoholic drinks are taxed by litre of contained alcohol. Beer is taxed on the residual extent to which alcohol content exceeds 1.15% and tax varies between $6.93 per litre of additional alcohol on draught lite beer and $40.46 per litre on packaged full strength beer (although draught full strength is taxed only at $28.48), http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?DocID=SAV/ALCOHOL/00011.

Spirits are taxed at $68.54 per litre (with a concession for brandy – surprise! – at $63.99), http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?DocID=SAV/ALCOHOL/00013.

Wine is taxed on a completely different basis, usually similar to a sales tax calculated on percentage of selling price. As a consequence, 4 litre cardboard casks of wine are by far the cheapest alcohol on the market but people dining in an up-market restaurant may be paying an excise premium on their chosen wine.

It is a complete mess.

As I understand it, the government’s alcopops bill was intended to raise the excise on this stuff from the rate per litre of alcohol from that applying to packaged beer to that applying to distilled spirits.

It defies reason that the Federal Opposition is simply resisting this change. It would have made sense if they were pushing for excise on all spirits to be dropped to the same as packaged beer, or for that on alcopops and packaged beer to be raised to the same as spirits or for some variant on the above.

I recall that there were some press reports about alcopop manufacturers developing drinks based on beer with the beer taste removed and replaced by some sweet concoction that would appeal to teenage girls.

The Act defines beer as:

‘a brewed beverage which

* is the product of the yeast fermentation of an aqueous extract of malted or unmalted cereals, whether or not containing other sources of carbohydrates; and

* contains hops, or extracts thereof, or other bitters; and

* has not had added to it, at any time, any alcohol from any other source, and

* contains more than 1.15% by volume of alcohol.

Should be plenty of ways of starting with something like that and sexing it up to taste like Bacardi Breezer.

As for volumetric charging — I’m surprised it’s not used already, although I think the problem with it is as that most of the Australian public doesn’t understand what a simply relationship is (it’s hard enough to convince educated people of the value of a regression line!), so we end up with all these weird and arbitrary categories (not unlike everything else, such as tax brackets).