Wine tax rebate rorts distorting industry, discussion paper says

A wine tax rebate costing more than $300 million a year is distorting the industry and being widely exploited by wholesalers, distributors and “virtual winemakers”, a government discussion paper has found. A review into the wine equalisation tax (WET) to be released by Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg today, has revealed widespread rorting of the subsidy scheme, which allows winemakers — including New Zealand producers — to access a tax rebate of up to $500,000.