West Germany: End of an Oasis

When it comes to tippling, nobody in West Germany out-topes the West Berliners. Low taxes have made liquor so cheap (75¢ a fifth for gin, $1.25 for local whisky) that the Communist-encircled city not only produces 20% of West Germany's bottled cheer, but also consumes it at the elbow-straining pace of 18 fifths per year per person-double the rate in the rest of the country. Last week the 15-year-old oasis of cheap alcohol was drying up, the victim of a forthcoming New Year's tax increase. Long queues of customers stood through hail, sleet and snow to snap up West Berlin's stocks of liquor in a frenzied Christmas shopping rush. Tavernkeepers and restaurant owners bid up the rent of cellars to hoard extra cases.

To help balance its budget, the inflation-plagued Bonn government will boost liquor taxes from $1.44 to $1.80 a fifth throughout West Germany starting Jan. 1. West Berliners, however, have been paying a special tax of only 470 a fifth. Bonn is abolishing that preferential rate because it figures that the city's economy is now strong enough to do without such a subsidy. As a result, West Berlin liquor prices are expected to climb from 50% to 100% .