BRATISLAVA, October 13, (WEBNOVINY) — Representatives of the Slovak Association of Beer and Melt Producers have delivered a petition on Tuesday to the Speaker of Parliament, Richard Sulik, against the planned hike in the excise tax on beer within the Cabinet’s consolidation package. The petition was signed by 173,000 beer fans in just a week. Around 200 people working in the beer brewing sector gathered in front of the parliament building and were handing out a message in an empty beer bottle to members of parliament. In their appeal to lawmakers they warned that the increase in the tax by almost 50 percent seriously threatens not only the entire beer industry but also jobs in regions across the country. Many people may lose their job also in further related sectors, they said.
Then a symbolical funeral took place of Slovak beer while a brass band was playing. The protesters believe that if the Cabinet-endorsed changes go through, this would definitively bury the local brewing industry. They argue that the changes will not bring by far the planned income to state coffers but will cause major damages. Therefore the initiators of the petition asked Sulik that the parliament rejects the changes and leaves the situation unchanged.
Head of the Slovak Association of Beer and Melt Producers Stefan Karsay considers the prepared tax hike a non-systemic step as it preserves unjust exemptions and deepens discrimination of beer towards wine, for which zero excise tax is in force. He argued that the increased VAT will be canceled after some time while the increased excise tax on beer will no longer be cut back. “Mr. Sulik received us as a professional, he said that as more than 100,000 people have signed the petition, thus parliament will deal with it,” said Karsay.
SITA
