INDEPENDENT Senator Francis Lewis has questioned the $1 billion in revenues anticipated by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo in hiking excise duties on rum, beer and tobacco products.

Lewis was speaking in the Senate on October 29 in debate on motions to confirm the Excise Duty (Tobacco Products)(Amendment) Orders, the Excise Duty (Alcoholic Beverages)(Amendment) Orders, and the Customs (Import Duty)(Caricom)(Amendment) Order, 2025.

He recalled that once in a trade war dubbed the beer wars, one company had dropped the price of a bottle of beer from $3 to $1.99 (a 33 per cent drop) and in doing so had garnered a 45 per cent rise in sales.