Wine Tax Reform: The Impact of Introducing a Volumetric Excise Tax for Wine

The recent Henry tax review recommended substantial changes to Australian alcohol taxation policy. Here, the implications for the Australian wine industry of the Henry tax review's recommendations are explored using a computable general equilibrium model. The results show that: (i) replacement of the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) with a revenue‐neutral volumetric excise tax would have a small negative impact on the wine industry; (ii) removal of the WET rebate would have a substantial negative impact on small wineries; and (iii) applying the packaged beer excise rate across all alcoholic beverages would have a notable negative impact on the wine industry.