BOFT heads to US to argue for tax cut for rice wine

A Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) delegation left for Washington yesterday to consult with the US on cutting the tax on rice wine.

BOFT Deputy Director-General Chu Wei-cheng (朱為正) is leading the group.

The consultations are expected to last two or three days; BOFT Director-General Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬) said that whether the US will agree to a tax cut is not known, but communication is a good start.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun last week ordered early consultations with the US and the EU on a rice wine tax cut under the WTO framework, to be coupled with a revision of the Wine and Tobacco Tax Act (菸酒稅法), in the wake of a rice wine bootlegging crisis that has resulted in more than 11 deaths and other injuries nationwide over the past few weeks.

The revision will be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review this week at the earliest and if passed, the retail price of a 0.6-liter bottle of rice wine would be cut from NT$130 to between NT$50 and NT$60.