You will soon be paying more at your favourite Bendigo watering as pubs are slugged with higher taxes to pour your precious pint.
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A 2.2 per cent "beer tax" hike came into effect August 1, meaning Bendigo publicans will pay about $80 in tax for a full-strength keg.
Rising Sun Hotel manager Paul Tzountourkas said he expected the higher tax would have a flow on effect where customers would be paying more at the tap.
"It's obviously less profit margin, and its something that we'd have to introduce gradually to try and compensate," Mr Tzountourkas said.
"And I don't think the customer is going to be too happy."
Under the new margins, it is expected the price of a pint will rise by a bout $1.
Mr Tzountoukas said beer was not exempt from rising cost of living, which had seen commodities across the hospitality industry "all go up".
"I don't think there's much we can do," he said.
"Cost of living is going up, so everything is going up."
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The price of beer is graded against household inflation twice yearly.
The indexing has seen prices at the tap rise over 10 per cent since May 2022.
Windermere Hotel manager Robert Vick said as much as he could see customers complaining at the start, most people were aware the decision was out of publicans' control.
"In that initial stage when it goes up, there'll be a lot of whinging and that sort of stuff," Mr Vick said
"But people adapt, it's like anything, the world's gotta keep moving."
Australia's beer tax is among the highest in the world, now overtaking Japan with only Norway and Finland charging more.
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