ND leader pledges to scrap wine tax if he becomes PM

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged on Wednesday that if he becomes prime minister he will scrap a special consumption tax on wine introduced at the beginning of the year.

After a meeting with local producers at Nemea, in the Peloponnese, Mitsotakis said that the implementation of the tax by the country’s leftist government produced no revenues for the state while burdening Greek producers with excessive bureaucracy.

“It was a tragic mistake,” he said.

The tax has been in place since January 1 and sees 0.15 euros added to the cost of a 750 ml bottle of wine or 0.20 euros to a 1-liter bottle.