Incidence of changes in rates of taxes on beer on market operators in the Czech Republic

Purpose of the article: This paper examines the incidence of increased burden of the consumption taxes imposed on beer in the Czech Republic, where there was a last change of the excise duty on beer and the value added tax rates from 2010. The general assumption is that the increased excise duty burden is borne by consumers. Methodology/methods: The basis of the research is recording of selling prices of the taxed product in the period before the change of tax rates and in the period after the change. Subsequent processing and comparing of identified prices using standard general methods of scientific work is possible to formulate conclusions regarding the values of tax incidence. Scientific aim: The aim is to determine values of characteristics of tax incidence and to compare them with general assumption. Specifically, it will be determined a part of the increased tax burden passed on consumers and how much of the burden bear sellers of beer. Exploration will also be subjected to the time factor and determination of the tax incidence by characteristics of the examined subjects. Findings: The results of the research show that the rate of transfer of increased tax burden on beer in the Czech Republic compared to the theoretical expectations averages only about 1/3 of the specified load. In the examination of the tax burden shift the effect of the time factor was recorded in the sense of gradual projection of tax rate change into the consumer prices. Conclusions: Transfer rate grows with the size of the brewery. The dependence of the size of store and transfer of tax rates has not been fully established. Higher level of the burden shift of increased taxes can be seen at restaurants compared to traders due to the characteristics of consumer behavior and market power of the subjects