Bengaluru, March 7 -- The Karnataka government on Friday proposed the removal of state control over liquor pricing and a shift to a duty system based on alcohol content percentage.

Presenting the state budget in the assembly, chief minister Siddaramaiah said the reforms would modernise the state's decades-old excise framework and introduce a taxation method commonly used internationally. The new model, called the Alcohol-in-Beverage (AIB) excise duty structure, links tax rates directly to the amount of alcohol in a drink.

"An Alcohol-in-Beverage based excise duty structure is globally recognised as the gold standard for alcohol taxation, as it directly targets the alcohol content which is the primary source of negative externalities," h...