Delay in tax case rattles winemakers
Winemakers are increasingly concerned by the fact that a year and a half after taking recourse to the Council of State asking for the cancellation of the ministerial decision to introduce a special consumption tax (SCT) on wine, no verdict has been issued yet.
Their case was submitted in January 2016 and discussed last May, but the decision has yet to be released. Meanwhile the tax has not fetched the anticipated revenues to the state while generating an increase in the illegal trade of wine and of grapes for winemaking, resulting in a further drop in state revenues and another blow to law-abiding winemakers.
“Small enterprises in the sector have a particularly big problem: While they submit data on their SCT, they have major debts due to the high contributions due and the cash in their accounts has been confiscated so they constantly incur fresh fines,” explains Giorgos Skouras, the president of the Hellenic Wine Association (SEO).
The SCT on wine fetched less than 24 million euros into state coffers last year, according to SEP director Thodoros Georgopoulos, while the budget had foreseen revenues of 60 million euros from the tax.
