Wine tax ‘gaming’ ended by changes

The federal government has moved to end ‘gaming’ of wine industry assistance with cuts to rebates and tightening of eligibility for the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate. The rebate will be cut from its current $500,000 to $350,000 by July 1, 2017 and further to $290,000 a year later. Wine producers want-ing to claim the rebate will also have to own a winery or have a long-term lease on one, and sell packaged, branded wine domestically under new eligibility criteria.