Godongwana cuts boozers, smokers some slack in 2025 Budget Speech

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In the 2025 Budget Speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana was expected to announce an increase to sin taxes, especially the price of a can of beer and cigarettes as has been the case in the previous years.

Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana announced the increases when he delivered the Budget Speech for the 2025/2026 fiscal year on Wednesday, 12 March in Cape Town.

NO MENTION OF SIN TAX INCREASES IN 2025 BUDGET SPEECH

Excise duties increase every year. So, it came as a surprise that there were no increases in the price of alcohol, especially wine and spirits.

In his 2024 Budget Speech, the Finance Minister announced above-inflation increases of between 6.7 and 7.2%. In the 2025 Budget Speech, Godongwana did not mention any changes to sin taxes.

Here are the increases announced in 2024:

A 14c increase to the price of a 340ml can of beer
A bottle of wine increased by 28c in 2024
The price of a bottle of sparkling wine increased by 89c
A bottle of 750ml spirits, including whisky, gin, or vodka, increased by R5.53.

THE PRICE OF CIGARRETTES

In 2024, the government proposed tobacco excise duties to increase by 4.7% for cigarettes and cigarette tobacco and by 8.2% for pipe tobacco and cigars.

This translated to:
• A R9.51 cents increase for cigars;
• A 97 cents increase to a pack of cigarettes; and
• An extra 57 cents for a pipe of tobacco.