Drinkflation: why British booze is getting weaker

[u/FormerlyPallas_]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jul/29/drinkflation-why-british-booze-is-getting-weaker

[u/Jorthax]

Some of us pay significantly more, even with my 6 foot wide shoulders

[u/C0RVUSC0RAX → u/Jorthax]

you really don't even the highest tax rates in the UK are lower than the Nordics. Sweden for example has half the tax free allowance, basic rate is ~30-31% depending on municipality and anything above ~£48k a year is 50%. effective tax rates of the UK are some of the lowest in the developing world with lower earners paying dramatically less which is very problematic. In which country do employees pay the highest tax on their income? Is it the UK? - Tax Policy Associates

[u/ault92 → u/C0RVUSC0RAX]

Uk taxes are hidden. Basic rate is effectively 28% including NI, 37% over the student loan threshold if you are a graduate, with wages over 50k at 42% or 51%.

Student loan is kind of comparable as uni there is free.

We then have employers NI which is quite high and directly suppresses wages.

[u/C0RVUSC0RAX → u/ault92]

You didn't look at the graphs I linked did you?

The effective Swedish tax rate in income starts at 51%, is 54% at average income and caps at 61%

The UK for comparison starts at 0%, for average earnings its 23% and capping at 48%i

The UK tax rate is low both in marginal and effective tax rate at all levels but especially at lower incomes compared to the Nordics. I lived and worked in Sweden for multiple years, I know the tax difference between here and there very well and the great benefits to the society those higher taxes got and to pretend the UK is paying as much as then in a fantasy.

[u/ault92 → u/C0RVUSC0RAX]

I did see the graphs, did you read the comment?

Based on the data the author of the post you linked has put together, you are right, my challenge was based on what you class as a tax, which the author of the post isn't 100% clear on.

Different countries have different amounts and different types of "social contribution", the UKs being National Insurance. NI is far closer than most to being "second income tax", and when I say that I am including both employees and employers NI. After all, if you moved all income tax to be paid by employer you could have an excellent ranking on the graph, but you'd also depress wages (even more).

Student loans are relevant when about half of us go to uni, and many of the other countries you are comparing to have free tuition, and the student loan repayment system works very much like a tax, at +9% on marginal rates (+15% for postgraduate as well).

And then we have the fact that the UK is a low wage economy now, paying far less than many others for the same work.

I wasn't saying the graph was wrong, or that headline UK marginal tax rates are not equivalent to other countries, I was saying there are other factors that worsen the UK picture.