Led by the Wine Industry Association of Western Australia (WIAWA), the Australian wine industry is calling on the Federal Government to abolish the so-called Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) on the first one million litres of wine sales in Australia, and to reduce the WET rate to 24.5% on winery sales beyond that level. According to industry figures, small makers are paying between 2.6 and 3.5 times more tax per bottle than the major producers and the proposed WET rate reduction is based on the Federal Government’s increased take from the wine industry following the introduction of the GST. The WIAWA claims the inequity of the WET is threatening the commercial viability of Australia’s numerous small wine producers who contribute an inordinate amount to economic development and more specifically, job creation in regional Australia. WIAWA President Denis Horgan says that 83% of all wineries in Australia crushing over 50 tonnes were small producers that sold less than one million litres of wine per annum in Australia. These wineries represent only 7% of national production, but pay 29% of the total WET collected. Furthermore, they collectively employ more people than all of Australia’s large producers put together.
