Tue, Dec 10, 2002 page10

• Rice-wine kit confuses legislators

  RULE BENDERS An ingenious solution by Taisugar for making cheap wine and circumventing high liquor tax has befuddled lawmakers as well as government officials

  • By Joyce Huang / STAFF REPORTER
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  With controversy swirling around state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp's (Taisugar, 台糖) do-it-yourself rice-wine kit, lawmakers grilled Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday over whether the new product breaks any laws.

  DPP Legislator Chu Hsing-yu (朱星羽), who also chaired yesterday's finance-committee meeting, brought Taisugar's rice-wine kit and mixed the ingredients and offered taste tests to fellow lawmakers. After a few sips and sniffs, Chu said Taisugar's product tastes just like red-label rice wine made by Taiwan Tabacco & Liquor Co (TTL, 台灣菸酒公司), while Lin said it smells a bit stronger than red label.

  Chu said that Taisugar is trying to evade the tax on rice wine by selling the wine's ingredients in three bottles and urged the Ministry of Finance to put an end to the state-owned company's production before imitators follow suit, putting consumers' health at risk.

  

  During a product-launch ceremony yesterday, Taisugar Chairman Wu Nai-jen, dressed up as a chef, presented the company's three-bottle rice-wine kit which skirts the wine tax, making it only subject to an NT$11 tax on alcohol.

  PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

  Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城), director-general of the finance ministry's treasury department, said that the wine kit does not break any laws.

  If the wine endangers public health, violating the Consumer Protection Law (消保法), then local governments will be entitled to recall the product and impose penalties, he said.

  The ministry held talks with Taisugar last seek in an effort to persuade the company to halt production before all legal concerns could be considered. Undeterred, Taisugar began sales nationwide yesterday.

  During the product-launch ceremony, Taisugar Chairman Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), dressed up as a chef, presented the company's three-bottle kit, which includes 30ml of alcohol produced from molasses, 135ml of ethanol made from fermented rice and 435ml mineral water.

  The product skirts the tax on rice wine, making it only subject to an NT$11 tax on alcohol. That compares to the WTO taxes of NT$90 on a 0.6L bottle of rice wine.

  Lin said the ministry will come up with a final ruling on the new product by Friday.

  PFP legislator Chen Chih-pin (陳志彬) said that as a major state-owned company, Taisugar has set a bad example by finding a way to avoid taxes, although he admitted that WTO entry has boosted rice-wine prices to unreasonable levels. He said that the finance ministry should find ways to re-open negotiations with other WTO members and bring the price back down to NT$21 per bottle.

  KMT legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) asked the finance minister whether Taiwan will unilaterally implement a tax cut on rice wine in January if Taiwanese negotiators fail to convince the US and European countries to agree to Taiwan's proposal to lower taxes on rice wine.

  Lin said the ministry is working on making revisions to local laws and with WTO members to facilitate a tax cut.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Bologna advance to face AC Milan in Coppa final

  • 2

    Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro

  • 3

    Wild’s top line too much for Vegas Golden Knights

  • 4

    HK, Macau residency rules tightened

  • 5

    Eric Chu, 2 others to be questioned for leading illegal assembly last week