French Senators voice against levy of Behavioral Tax on wine By TII News Service
May 21, 2013 , Paris
FRANCE is reported to have set up a Panel to examine the prospect for introducing a dissuasive or "behavioral" tax on wine. But many socialist senators have discarded the idea of imposing a new tax on wine highlighting the fact that the consumption of wine has already halved over the course of the last 20 years, and the wine-making industry is only just beginning to emerge from a major crisis.
The Senators also warned against establishing a relation between health problems and a rational consumption of wine emphasizing the fact that an increase in the tax on wine would simply send out a negative message, specifically that wine is a cause of alcoholism and splurge drinking among the young. Wine is a national cultural good that must be valued and is one of France's main export products which supports several hundred thousand jobs in France keeping the fact that EUR1bn already flows each year from the taxation of wine.
