The wine industry has finally made some positive headway on the taxation issue in what has been since 1983 a constant battle against Federal Governments of both persuasions. The Government’s position in June was that winery cellar doors would receive a full 29% rebate of the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) to a ceiling of $300,000 retail sales. Implementation of such a policy not only would have flown directly against the same government’s spoutings of support for wine tourism, but would actually have closed down most of the cellar door assets it claimed to have been keen to promote. The wine industry has persuaded the government to double the ceiling to an equivalent of $600,000 retail, to which point cellar doors will be refunded by a 15% rebate from the states and 14% from the Canberra, equal to a full WET rebate. Those cellar doors with sales above $600,000 will only receive a 15% rebate. Overall the new situation compares favourably with the present situation facing cellar doors, all of which receive a 15% rebate after a 41% sales tax. Industry sources suggest that all cellar doors with sales up to $1.1 million will be better off than they presently are, while those with sales above that figure will pay more tax.
