BRATISLAVA, December 21, (WEBNOVINY) — The Civic Conservative Party (OKS) will turn to the European Commission after President Ivan Gasparovic signed into law the revised bill on excise tax on alcoholic beverages. OKS deputies repeatedly drew attention to problems they expect that Slovakia’s viniculture and viticulture as well as makers of mead, fruit wines and beer brewers might face due to the law already when it was in parliament. “The adopted law is flawed and already in this form it introduces tax on fruit wines and mead that can liquidate their producers,” reads the OKS stance provided to SITA by party chairman Peter Zajac and his deputy Ondrej Dostal.
OKS insists that the law, in contrasts with the position of the Finance Ministry as its submitter, does not bring any justice regarding taxation alcoholic beverages by their alcohol content. Moreover, it is in contradiction with the EU directive for taxing alcoholic drinks as it unambiguously sets the duty to tax wines with a fixed sum per hectoliter and not with a joint coefficient for all alcoholic drinks, says OKS. OKS expected that President Ivan Gasparovic would not sign the bill after representatives of professional organizations of winegrowers, wine producers and mead makers explained to him that the bill goes against EU directives. As the president ultimately sealed the bill into law, the OKS is now turning to the European Commission.
The president has signed the bill because excise tax on alcoholic beverages will bring additional budget revenues in 2012. Presidential spokesman Marek Trubac argued that if the president had vetoed the bill, it would have caused a shortfall in revenues of the state budget. Trubac said that the president agreed with Finance Minister Ivan Miklos to instantly amend the law to secure zero excise tax on mead. The head of state acted based on arguments of mead makers who told him that the tax would destroy them.
SITA