‘Alcohol not a sin, stop calling it sin tax’ – liquor organisation

The National Liquor Traders (NLT) Organisation wants to abolish the term ‘sin tax’. The organisation appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to stop referring to taxes levied on the alcohol industry as ‘sin-tax’ because it’s ‘derogatory’.

“It is our contention that this term has no room to exist in a constitutional state,” said NLT spokesperson Lucky Ntimane.

It said that Section 22 of the constitution states, “every citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely”.

The organisation is also calling for a 0% increase in excise duties, saying tavern owners cannot afford another tax hike while the sector is still recovering from the economic impact of Covid-19.

Since 2020, government has imposed four alcohol bans and restricted sales hours during the national lockdowns, which had a devastating impact on the entire supply chain.

Now the organisation wants government to do more to support small and black-owned taverns.

“We call upon the president to do away with apartheid-era rules and regulations which prevent state-owned funding and lending agencies from assisting liquor traders as they are seen to be ‘sin industry’.”

The organisation says it is wary of the upcoming budget speech by Godongwana as it carries with it a real risk that liquor traders will once again be “punished by an uncaring government through the increase in sin tax”.

“It is our view that government cannot seek to derive tax revenue from an industry it deliberately tried to destroy through unjustified and unscientific alcohol bans and restrictions.”

“The inability of the state to support small and black-owned businesses continues to hamper our growth efforts and prevents us from entering the manufacturing domain where we can own the means to production,” said Ntimane.

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