New Brunswick beer, wine and spirits getting their own April 1 tax increase

The New Brunswick government has been citing cost-of-living troubles that are besieging consumers from all sides in its campaign opposing a 3.1 cent increase in gasoline carbon charges on April 1, but that isn't stopping the province's liquor corporation from forging ahead with its own set of price hikes on the same day.

The cost of beer, wine, liquor and coolers are all set to jump on April 1, and although some of that involves an increase in federal excise taxes, most of the change comes from price increases being imposed by the province.

A case of 24 cans of domestic beer, currently selling for $43.99, is expected to jump $2 to $45.99 on Monday, a 4.5 per cent increase.

That is made up of a $1.68 increase in provincial charges, a six cent increase in federal excise taxes and HST increase of 26 cents.

Alcool N.B. Liquor, ANBL, has been announcing that increases are coming in an open letter to customers on its website, but with not much detail attached for those wondering about what that means for their favourite drinks.

"To our valued ANBL customers: To keep you as informed as possible we want you to know that ANBL will be making a price adjustment on some of our products on April 1," reads the brief note.

According to the letter, the "average price adjustment" is 75 cents but it is not clear how that is calculated or distributed among individual products. 

In an email, N.B. Liquor spokesperson Emilie Dow said the increases are designed to generate an extra $12.3 million in revenue in the coming year.

"The weighted average price increase for April 1 is 2.8 per cent," she said.

Price increases on beer, wine and spirits in New Brunswick are coming, despite a national campaign underway by federal Conservatives to link April 1 price increases on petroleum and alcohol as a joint affront to weary consumers.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has joined that campaign on the petroleum side, where he has been criticizing the effect carbon price increases are having on families, even if they come with rebates.

Higgs told a parliamentary committee on Thursday he doesn't believe rebates to individuals cover the full cost of carbon charges and, in his social media posts, has been arguing any extra burden on consumers is too much.

"It all adds up," said Higgs about rising carbon charges.

"We are calling on the federal government to eliminate this unnecessary and ineffective tax permanently."