There's no end to speculation as to how the consumption tax increase in April will affect the country, socially as well as economically. Last week, Tokyo Shimbun published a conversation between a college professor and one of its reporters about the effect on beer prices and, in turn, beer consumption, which last year declined for the ninth year in a row.
When the reporter asks the professor about this effect the professor feigns amazement that the reporter, who specializes in tax matters, didn't know that "42 percent of the price you pay for your beer is already tax." He goes on to explain that the beer tax is a holdover from the 19th century, when beer was considered a luxury item. Since then it's become much more the drink of common people thanks to improved and cheaper refrigeration, but the government liked the revenues too much and maintained the tax structure for beer. To the professor's thinking, the tax should be pegged to alcoholic content, and since beer's is relatively low the tax should also be lower than it is for other alcoholic beverages.
It's easy to get people to pay the tax since it isn't indicated on the package or even at the place of sale, unlike the consumption tax. For the sake of reference, when you buy a 350-ml can of beer you pay ¥77 in tax. If you bought the same volume of whiskey you'd pay ¥129 in tax; shochu ¥70, nihonshu ¥42 and wine ¥28.