From Jancis Robinson
Have you noticed the quality of supermarket wine declining? Have you noticed prices of mass-market wine in the UK rising over the last few years?
The explanation lies in the mealy-mouthed declaration of the Chancellor of the Exchequer each Budget day when he announces, usually in a rather self-satisfied way, that for taxes/duties on alcohol there will be 'no change'. What he means is not that there will be no change to duty rates but that there will be no changes to the measures for a duty escalator brought in in 2008 whereby wine duty rises automatically by inflation plus 2%. So, every year, duties on wines and spirits rise inexorably, by 50% since 2008, as set out years ago.
Sneaky bastards. And most of the media haven't picked up on it.
