Tories call for “treatment tax” on alcohol

By Helen McCormack on July 9, 2007 in Substance misuse

Increases in taxes on alcohol to fund treatment programmes are expected among a raft of proposals to be launched by the Conservatives tomorrow.

The wide ranging report, Breakthrough Britain, will recommend that the £400million currently spent on drug and alcohol treatment programmes should be doubled.

The report, from former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice, is also expected to advocate increased use of the voluntary sector.

It will argue that the “war on poverty” will only be won by “liberating the third sector from the incessant pressure to do the government’s work in the government’s way”.

Tax incentives and benefits for married couples are among the proposals. Conservative leader David Cameron said in interviews over the weekend they were key to beating problems with crime, educational failures and teenage pregnancy.

The report can be downloaded tomorrow from www.povertydebate.com

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Centre for Social Justice