Pressure on consumers' pockets is set to tighten with the annual excise tax pushing up prices for a round of drinks. The increase, driven by the Government's discretionary excise tax applied on July 1, is unfortunate and a worry to the industry, Hospitality Association of New Zealand chief executive Bruce Robertsonsaid. "We certainly suggested to the Government that, given the circumstances this year, they might like to give New Zealanders a break but the Government has decided not to." Alcohol manufacturers and distributors have announced they will pass the increased costs of not only the excise tax, but price rises for fuel, labour rates and packaging, and the retailers have no choice to follow suit, Mr Robertson said. "The retail sector have had these increases and they've got no choice but to pass it on to New Zealanders." He said the excise tax, at around 3 per cent and the subsequent cost increase is a concern for the industry, with winter putting a squeeze on discretionary spending. "We are concerned that there may be some resistance to increases, we'll like to think that our customers will be understanding that this is not something that our retailers want to do. "We like to think that they'll continue to support (the hospitality sector) by still coming out and having a good time in a bar or a restaurant. "The last thing that the industry likes to do is to put prices up, but unfortunately if they don't do that they don't make a profit and they close down and that's no good to the customer either," he said. The excise tax goes into a $500 million consolidated fund to finance Government activities, he said. Different manufacturers will apply different levels of increases but the Commerce Commission frowns upon disclosing the actual amounts because of price-fixing, he said. "The Commerce Commission doesn't like us saying that prices are going up by X-amount because it's a matter for individual retailers," he said.
