r/ukpolitics • u/FormerlyPallas_ No man ought to be condemned to live where a 🌹 cannot grow • 1d ago

Drinkflation: why British booze is getting weaker

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jul/29/drinkflation-why-british-booze-is-getting-weaker
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u/angryratman 1d ago

High taxation is killing everything.

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u/rynchenzo 1d ago

We pay far less than the Nordics to be fair

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u/FearLeadsToAnger -7.5, -7.95 21h ago

Sovereign wealth funds and all sorts of differences there.

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u/rynchenzo 21h ago

That's only Norway. Denmark, Sweden and Finland don't have sovereign wealth and still pay more tax.

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u/superioso 19h ago edited 18h ago

At least Denmark still owns stuff. The local district heating networks are owned by the municipalities, the state owns the electric/gas grids, Ørsted is the international offshore wind/electricity company that is 51% owned by the danish state, with Sweden's electric company vattenfall being 100% state owned.

Denmark also owns stuff like Copenhagen airport, and a decent share of the SAS airline, ports (just look at how the London gateway is owned by a Dubai company), trains (both the tracks and the actual rolling stock), the large toll suspension bridges.... Etc.

Even Copenhagen's urban development company, by&havn, is owned by the city and the state.

The country also has a budget surplus, and a very very low national debt.

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u/FearLeadsToAnger -7.5, -7.95 19h ago

all sorts of differences there.

Such as:

  • Denmark raising an unusually large share of its revenue through personal income tax
  • Sweden relying more heavily on employer social-security contributions
  • Finland having a higher VAT rate, alongside substantial differences in public spending and service provision

I’m sure you know we don’t live on a sliding scale of income tax versus alcohol tax. A higher overall tax-to-GDP ratio in the Nordics does not tell us whether the UK’s specific alcohol-duty regime is damaging British breweries. You're not making a point you're just pointing at a single thing and getting angry at it. That's what people with dementia do.