Patchily clairvoyant (yet dumb)

[sqbr]

So in a shocking development noone could have predicted, it turns out that raising the tax on premixed drinks just encouraged people to buy spirits and mix their own.

Ha!

EDIT: Yes, ok, I'm an idiot (see the comments). You know when I said I was too tired, grumpy, and stupid to post? Well, the first two have gotten better...

Comments

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Doesn't the same amount of excise get charged either way now?

[alias_sqbr]

Hey, don't ask me, I just predict the news, I don't have to understand it :)

[utopos.livejournal.com]

I am smarter than Alan Carpenter
Not to contest your claim (which is probably valid), but you mean K-Rudd right?

[alias_sqbr]

*blinks*

I could have SWORN it was a state issue.

Which is at least better than thinking Alan Carpenter was Prime minister :)

Still, I'm not sure I am smarter than Kevin Rudd, I mean his mandarin is certainly better than mine. And his name doesn't semi-rhyme. Dammit.

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

But have they moved onto HEROIN (http://penchaft.livejournal.com/494508.html)?

[alias_sqbr]

No, because:

me > government > channel 7

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

OMG they're doing just what we did before pre-mixed drinks came along!

I treat this as validation of my beliefs

[gyges-ring.livejournal.com]

If the choice is between pre-mixed drinks, and mixing your own, and the cost is the same, then I like to think that people will choose the option that tastes better

Re: I treat this as validation of my beliefs

[infamyanonymous.livejournal.com]

You'd like to think that, yes.

Re: I treat this as validation of my beliefs

[alias_sqbr]

You're forgetting the cost of labour of mixing. It's very tiring on the arms!

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Not the point, as the excise and total cost on the two are now the same.
The point was that formerly, premixed drinks were in fact cheaper. Don't think of it as adding a tax - think of it as removing an odd discount. And now the discount is removed, while mixing drinks rather than buying premixed will increase relatively, hopefully the combined consumption of the two will decrease.

Not that I care. Alcopops are trashy.

[davyd.livejournal.com]

Initial reports suggest this is the case, since the introduction of the tax something like 500,000 standard drinks less per week have been purchased.

ABC (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/29/2258723.htm)

[davyd.livejournal.com]

Hilariously, this is the same article Sophie linked to.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, yeah, you can't expect me to read everything. Sheesh.

*is an idiot*

[anxiolytic.livejournal.com]

Were they really cheaper? I know the excise was less, but the overall cost seemed quite expensive.

[alias_sqbr]

I was going to say "Yes, but they also said it would cut down on drinking, which it didn't"... but it is somewhat undercut by the fact that it did cut down the total amount of drinking, as stated in the last line, which I somehow missed. So I shall instead shut up :)