Parliament - Smokers and boozers will be reaching deeper into their pockets from Wednesday as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that taxes on wine, beer, spirits and cigarettes would continue to rise above the rate of inflation.
The excise duties on cigarettes will rise from R12.42 for a pack of 20 to R13.24.
Duties on sparkling wine increase from R9.75 to R10.53 a litre, while producers of fortified wine will pay R5.82 a litre, up from R5.46, and those producing unfortified wine (wine with an alcohol volume of less than 16 percent) would pay R3.31 a litre from last year's R3.07.
Malt beer taxes are also up from R73.05 a litre to R79.26.
Those indulging in spirits are set to fork out the most as duties on a litre of hard liquor will rise from R149.23 a litre to R161.47.
This will be passed on to consumers.
African News Agency (ANA)