Put more tax on booze?

The Chief Medical Officer has suggested that alcohol should have a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol, which would put about 50p on a £4 bottle of wine.

There has been a predictable protest from moderate drinkers and also from sellers of alcoholic drinks. It's unfair, swingeing, you're punishing the innocent, it's not so high in France were they have no binge drinking, etc, etc. At a time when pubs are closing in great numbers, this could be the last straw for others.

The policy is suggested to dry to encourage heavy and binge drinkers to drink less. They are imposing costs for hospital treatment and for policing on the rest of us, they are creating disturbance and no-go areas for the rest of us.

Moderate drinkers point out that it is supermarkets with loss-leader cheap drinks, and special offers in pubs of 2 for 1, etc, not the actual price of the drink, but if you are going to set a minimum price, why not set it at 50p per unit, rather than trying to cover all sorts of prohibitions in complicated laws which would have to be enforced at cost.

Since the binge drinkers cause the problems why not let them pay more than moderate drinkers.

It might seems a seep increase, perhaps the heavy drinkers need a shock, and drink is still in real terms very cheap. It used to take a working man the best part of a week's work to find the money to buy a bottle of whisky. It's much cheaper now, in terms of work.

No-one likes to pay more tax, although with our