European Union judges are to deliver a ruling in a case that could change the way shoppers buy alcohol and tobacco.

The ruling will decide whether taxes should be paid at home or abroad.

It could have a big effect in the UK, where taxes are high and many Britons travel to mainland Europe on "booze cruises" for cheaper alcohol. (more)

While I'm all in favour of us Brits (and the rest of Europe of course) being able to take advantage of cheaper taxes when buying 'locally' today's ruling could have a huge impact on our national budget. The loss of revenue on booze alone means taxes will have to be raised elsewhere to balance the books. Add in the potential loss of revenue from tobacco products, perfumes, cars, etc. and the state of the Treasury suddenly looks very sick! You can bet things like income tax will take an upward hike to compensate. Oh well, we could always drown our sorrows I suppose...