We will go to the land of King Miroslav. Winemakers from the border regions threaten to leave the Czech Republic because of the tax

Winemakers are annoyed by the government’s efforts to burden still wine with consumption tax. The working group of winemakers, representatives of government parties and others has not yet reached an agreement and has not given a clear opinion for the final step. The final decision rests with the government.

“A consensus was not reached regarding the introduction of consumption tax on still wine,” said Vojtěch Bílý, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture.

Winemakers draw attention to the standards of the surrounding European countries, where still wine is not taxed. He claims that if the government approves a tax of 23.40 crowns per liter of wine, it will be liquidating for Czech winemakers. According to them, the effort to survive can bring an unexpected development – an exodus beyond the borders.

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“Many winemakers are from the border region. They will buy a cellar across the border and sell Moravian wines in neighboring countries. This is the easiest option for not paying consumption tax,” said Jiří Maděřič, vice-chairman of the Vine Association of the Czech Republic.

“If this senseless tax were to be introduced, everyone would be punished by it. The cost of collecting the tax will increase for the state, the cost of introducing the tax for the winemakers, and all this must be paid by the customer. The only way to escape the increase is that next time he could add wine to his basket for a cheaper purchase outside the borders of our country. Yes, it sounds incredible, but by introducing consumption tax only in our country, you will be able to drive over the hill to Austria or Slovakia for Moravian wine. A carton of Moravian wine will be almost three hundred and fifty crowns cheaper there than at home,” says the director of CHÂTEAU VALTICE – Vinné sklepy Valtice David Šťastný.

“Move to Austria? Not me anymore, I’m not the youngest. But if the state introduces an excise tax and someone asks me what I say about it, I would recommend it. The idea of ​​taxation is nothing more than lobbying and politicking, without a reasonable reason and a clever effect,” said ZD Sedlec chairman Ctirad Králík.

“We already have a cellar in Schrattenberg, we just have to put a cash register there and report to the Austrian authorities and we can sell Waltz wines to our people in Austria, it’s three minutes by car over the hill from our winery,” mentioned Šťastný.

He considers going abroad to be logical in that case. “If the state wants to harm us, we have to save our livelihood in another way. In addition, the law directly imposes on us that we must act with the care of a proper householder, even if the damage was caused by the state. Unfortunately, it was not only the time after the battle on Bílá hora, our history knows more cases when the inhabitants of Bohemia were forced to go abroad,” he added.

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If winemakers set up a company in Austria, the state treasury will lose not only consumption tax and VAT, but also income tax. “For us and our clients, moving part of the sales of Valtice wines would be the cheapest solution,” says director Šťastný.

According to him, the price of wine would increase by up to fifty crowns if the 23.40 crown consumption tax were enforced. “It is the consumption tax plus VAT, the trader’s margin and the costs that the winemaker spends senselessly in addition to producing a liter of wine. All our winemakers would have to unnecessarily employ additional people for registration, have labeled containers, make construction modifications, buy software and more, all for several million crowns, which would not bring us or the state anything. This would again put us at a disadvantage against neighboring states,” he added.

In the event that wine is subject to excise duty, the winemaker must set up a customs warehouse, for which special rules apply. Among other things, they must have marked containers for recording stored wine.

According to him, by transferring sales to Austria, Slovakia or even Germany, winemakers could offer wines about half cheaper, and the VAT paid would strengthen the budget of our EU neighbors.

However, fleeing across the border may not be the only way to escape taxes. “Even a small family winery can handle it. They disappear into the gray economy. By dividing it among family members, they will be able to produce up to two thousand liters per head and leave the database of registered winemakers,” said Maděřič from the Vine Association of the Czech Republic. According to him, one family will continue to produce, for example, six thousand liters of wine, but in order to escape supervision, it will be formally divided among three people.

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