Govt doubles excise tariff for liquor

Excise tariffs for alcoholic drinks will be raised by more than double, to be effective starting April 1, after the government eliminates the luxury tax imposed on the commodity, the Finance Ministry said.

In a regulation posted Monday on the directorate general of customs and excise website, the excise tariff for imported alcoholic drinks is increased by about 100 percent on average.

Imported drinks with an alcohol content of more than 20 percent will see the excise tariff increase by 160 percent to Rp 130,000 (US$14.3) per liter.

The excise tariff for local alcoholic drinks is raised by about 200 percent on average. Local drinks with an alcohol content of below 5 percent, like beer, will see the excise tariff raised by more than 200 percent to Rp 11,000 from Rp 3,500 previously.

The Finance Ministry has reduced the drink categories from the previous five to three based on alcohol content.

The new regulation is in line with the 2009 law on value added and luxury taxes, which eliminates the luxury tax imposed on alcoholic drinks