Cuts to beer tax could save pubs thousands, campaign begins

But that's the way prices are heading (and in some cases already are), says beer industry representatives, and it's not about profits for businesses - it's about taxes.

Ben Carpenter owns the Beach Hotel at Burnie, on Tasmania's north west coast, where schooners are about $7.20. He said 60 cents of that was excise tax - a specific government fee placed only on goods such as alcohol and tobacco, and which works in addition to income tax and GST.

He admitted the ever-rising tax was difficult to make customers understand, and difficult to "pass on".

"Every six months we get hit with this," he said.

"The problem we've got as operators is being the boots on the ground, working in the community, making a living ... we can't always pass that cost on. The cost of living and the pressures that puts on people is not fair."

Mr Carpenter described the excise as a "tax on socialising" that shouldn't exist.

"There's this misunderstanding that whenever we put the beer prices up we're profiteering - we're not, we're only passing on the cost that the government's placing on us," he said.

The publican told his story on Thursday at a round-table discussion between Mr Carpenter, Smithton's Tall Timbers owner John Dabner, the Brewers Association, Australian Hotels Association chief executive Stephen Ferguson, Braddon Liberal MHA Gavin Pearce, Labor candidate Chris Lynch, Senator Anne Urquhart, Senator Jacqui Lambie and her candidate for the Senate, Tammy Tyrrell.

Mr Ferguson began by explaining a proposal to offer the Commonwealth a "compromise", asking them to cut the excise tax in half and save the average pub about $1000 a week.

Senator Jacqui Lambie was the first to speak up, expressing shock at the price of a schooner.

"I don't drink beer, when I last did it was $1.30," she said.

"No wonder people aren't coming to the pub. No way people are coming in. It's cheaper to go get a carton and drink at home. How's that responsible? How can they continue to do this?"

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She said COVID had forced more people away from social activities, and left pub owners "on the edge".

"People need to get back out there, but wages aren't going up and they ain't paying $10 for a beer."

Mr Pearce said he had heard alarm bells when Mr Carpenter said he was wearing the cost of not raising the prices.

"It's all very well and good to offer changes in legislation, but we need to be very careful that it's targeted where it should end up, and that's these blokes, and not the big multinationals and not the overseas companies," he said.

"You're a collection service basically. You've got my backing on this."