The tax on alcohol has increased several times since 2008. The first tax rise came when alcohol tax was put up by 12.5 percent from December 15th 2008, then by 15 percent from May 29th 2009 and by a further 10 percent from January 1st 2010. This time, there was an additional four percent tax charged on beer and wine and one percent more on spirits. The tax was also raised by 5, 1% (average) January 1st 2012 and 3% in beginning of 2014. Latest alcohol tax increase - 2% - was done in January 1, 2018.

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In September 2008 the due of for a calculated centiliter of the alcohol spirit in wine was 52,8 ISK. In 2017 (with additional raise of 4.7 percent) it was 106,8 ISK, which results in a 102% raise.

 

The tax system explained with an example of Vodka looks like this: It is ISK 7,300 (USD 65, EUR 62), 94 percent of which goes to the Icelandic state. Only ISK 434, goes to the producer or the importer. The rest is divided as follows: alcohol tax is ISK 5,419; bottle deposit is ISK 20; Vínbúðin, the state-run liquor store, gets ISK 705; and value added tax is ISK 724.
Sources: Iceland Review and Ice News