Karen Sandison PRIVATE

Picture: Karen Sandison

A host of revellers and fun-seekers – including drinkers, drivers, flyers and sailors – were hit with bad news on Wednesday.

And those who rely on state pensions have little to smile about too.

Boozers will greet Wednesday’s Budget news with an “Eish!”, as their grog prices just got grimmer. The Treasury’s logic is not rocket science: raise the price, and people will drink less.

The tax on a 750ml bottle of spirits rose by 20 percent, or R6, up to R36 a bottle.

The tax on beer rose by 10 percent, so a 340ml can or dumpie of your brewer’s best will cost 9c more, and ciders and alcoholic fruit drinks 8.84c more.

And the state will be harvesting an extra 8 percent from the lovers of the fruit of the Cape’s vines – an increase of 18c a litre (for those who prefer the bigger bottles).

Happily for some, the tax on “Traditional African beer” did not rise, equating to a 5.6 percent drop in tax in real terms.

Bubbly drinkers will now pay the state R7.53 for the right to drink a bottle, up by 56c.

Smokers will by now be accustomed to grim news on Budget day, and will have to cough up 5 to 8 percent more, or 58c extra per pack of their “cancer sticks”.

Former President Thabo Mbeki and his fellow pipe smokers are hit even harder, with an 8.05 percent increase in tax, from R2.98 to R3.22 per 25g.

It’s not only “sinners” who are hit hard, but also South Africans with a taste for super-larney “Dad’s Toys”.

From October, buyers of small airplanes and helicopters, with a mass of less than 5 000kg, will pay an “ad valorem” duty of 7 percent.

And those who love the feeling of the wind in their sails, or anchoring their pleasure-cruisers off Clifton at sunset, will start paying a new duty of 10 percent – but only for boats measuring 10m or longer.

Even those who have none of the fun above, but who merely drive on the roads, will be hit – with a 20c a litre increase in the fuel levy, and an 8c a litre rise in the Road Accident Fund levy.

The electricity levy will also rise, by 1c/kWh.

But while many pockets will be emptied by these rises, there’s good news for the other pocket, this time for cellphone users.

The price cell companies charge users to dial their competitors will finally be dropped – after years of outrage from the public – from the current rate of 73c, to 56c next year, down to 40c in the 2013/2014 financial year.

News from the social grants scale was not wonderful, as increases barely kept up with inflation – and not with food inflation.

The state old-age grant rose from R1 140 to R1 200, and from R1 160 to R1 220 for over-75s – the same as for war veterans.

The disability grant rose from R1 140 to R1 200; the foster care grant from R740 to R770; the care dependency grant from R1 140 to R1 200, and the child support grant from R265 to R280.