Queensland-based Bundaberg Rum has launched a campaign across its sunshine state heartland, highlighting Australia’s punitive spirits tax regime.

The tax sees 63% of the cost of a 1L bottle of Bundaberg Rum UP go straight to the Australian Government.

The brand will begin unveiling a series of billboards, radio and social advertisements across the state in a bid to urge the Federal Government to freeze the twice-yearly increases to the spirits tax rate.

Australia’s spirits tax is currently the third highest in the world, behind only Iceland and Norway. The spirits industry alone will pay about $5 billion in excise this year in Australia, and this tax continues to grow twice a year, every year.

Last August, Australia’s tax on spirits hit the whopping $100 per litre of alcohol threshold, and will increase again by an estimated 2-3% next month, putting extra pressure on Australian distilleries, from the big players like Bundy to smaller operators.

Chair of the Bundaberg Distilling Co. Amanda Lampe said “you can buy a bottle of Bundaberg rum cheaper in Los Angeles than you can in Bundaberg.”

“We’ve been talking to Bundaberg Rum customers across the length and breadth of this great state and we know many of them are doing it tough,” she added.

“They know alcohol should be taxed, but a 63 per cent tax on a 1L bottle of Bundy UP just seems outrageous.”

“We do our best to make our products as affordable as possible for our customers, as we grapple with increases in energy, raw material and freight costs, but the way we’re taxed makes this a real challenge.”

“We know this isn’t a problem that the current Federal Government created, but today we’re asking them to help fix it by freezing the excise on spirits, because the tax on Bundy is frankly too much to bear.”

Australian Distillers Association chief executive Paul McLeay congratulated Bundaberg Rum for taking a stand against Australia’s spirits taxation regime, noting its impacts were also felt keenly across Australia’s 600 spirits distilleries.

“It’s great to see an iconic brand like Bundaberg Rum stand up and say this tax has gotten out of hand, because it’s also wreaking havoc on the hundreds of small, emerging distilleries we have right around the country,” he said.

“If the Australian Government wants to make good on its rhetoric and encourage our tourism and manufacturing industries, then it should stop and think about the impact of policies like this one, which serves as a handbrake on the potential of Australia’s spirits industry.”

Spirits excise hike backfires on government