Tax on alcohol will rise substantially from midnight on Sunday with a 6% above inflation hike, the Chancellor has revealed in today’s Budget.

Duty on beer will rise 3% while taxes on wine will increase by 14 pence per bottle.

Spirits will rise by 55 pence per bottle and the Chancellor has put alcohol taxes on a price escalator of 2% above inflation for the next four years.

Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “It’s a decision doomed for failure – bad for taxpayers, beer, pubs and bad for the Treasury as well.”

Meanwhile the Chancellor also confirmed that reforms for capital gains tax will come in with “entrepreneurial relief” providing a special 10% tax rate for up to £1m of gains.

The concession came after plans to announce a single rate of 18%, announced in last October came in for widespread criticism from business leaders.

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By Christopher Walton

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