A Study of Alcohol Tax Evasion and Seizure of the Tax Evasion – Taking Rice Wine as an Example
| Autor: | Chung-Chih Hsu, 許忠智 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 97 Taiwan’s tobacco and alcohol monopoly was terminated in 2001 right before its formal entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002. Following the fully opening up for tobacco and alcohol imports, a host of Taiwan’s private firms had plunged into the alcohol market. However, given the fact that rice wine is a kind of distilled alcohol, its tax had increased year by year to NT$185 per liter in the end. Due to the heavy tax on rice wine, the market has been overwhelmed by bootleg and inferior rice wine, which results in serious tax evasion and even does harm to people’s health. Based on the following four dimensions, this paper explores current alcohol product problems and further put forth recommendations for improvement. 1.Tax on rice wine is comparatively high Following the enforcement of the new system on tobacco and alcohol after Taiwan’s entry into the WTO, the tax of Taiwan’s rice wine has been boosted up, making the price of rice wine soar to NT$180 a bottle. As a result, the market has been congested with bootleg and inferior rice wine. Thus, the recommendations are 1. short-term actions: (1) the government shall widely promote no production and selling of bootleg and inferior rice wine to the alcohol trade and change consumers’ alcohol drinking habits; (2) rice wine shall be reclassified according to its characteristics and alcohol percentages, and segmented from distilled alcohol, 2. mid-term and long-term goal: to reinforce the management of denatured alcohol, so as to reduce alcohol misuse. 2.Lax management rules By taking tax revenue into consideration, the government applied the “permit” system to the alcohol trade in the beginning after the tobacco and alcohol monopoly was terminated. However, it is not in compliance with the spirit of the tobacco and alcohol management law. Thus, the recommendations are: 1. short-term actions: (1) the tobacco and alcohol competent authorities shall reinforce its management and seizure enforcement; (2) to establish a benign interaction between government and private sector, so as to work hand in hand to strengthen alcohol management; (3) to institute well-rounded market competition regulations, 2. mid-term and long-term goals: (1) to consolidate alcohol management and tax imposition into a one-leash system; (2) to apply the registration system to the alcohol trade; (3) introduction of the accreditation system. 3.Insufficient seizure enforcement Due to severe shortage of seizure manpower, professional proficiency and budget in tobacco and alcohol management, it is recommended that 1. short-term actions: (1) on-site auditing; (2) double-check analysis on quantity; (3) bank deposit checks; (4) checks on purchase invoices; (5) retroactive checks; (6) to check if the salt content in cooking rice wine reaches 0.5%; (7) alliance auditing, 2. mid-term and long-term goals: (1) to give inspection personnel well-rounded legality education and regular practical training, (2) to set up alcohol inspection and research institutes, so as to control the quality of alcohol products. 4.No effective punishment Given that the punishment on the alcohol trade for their violation behavior is not rigid enough, serious tax evasion become popular. Thus, it is recommended that 1. short-term action: to reinforce the eradication of the violation from the alcohol trade for producing or selling bootleg and inferior rice wine, 2. mid-term and long-term goal: In addition to fulfillment of the enforcement of administrative and criminal punishments, the competent authorities shall manage to modify relevant penal provisions. The above recommendations are the reference for related government agencies. It is hoped that, with every effort as recommended, there will be less alcohol tax evasion. Furthermore, even though the price of the red label rice wine sold by Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation has been reduced to NT$50/bottle from NT$180/bottle, it is still hard to compete with bootleg alcohol which is sold at NT$20/bottle on the market. As a matter of fact, the law amendment this time does not yield much significant effect. It results in asymmetry by imposing a tax according to alcohol percentages, in which the tax of each degree of brewed wine is higher than that of distilled wine. The tax structure is different from that of advanced countries. As a result, it leads to another kind of unfairness and does not protect citizens’ health. Thus, rice wine shall be reviewed and reclassified according to its characteristics, and segmented from distilled wine, so alcohol taxation will be fairer and meet the social meaning. Nevertheless, this issue still requires follow-up reviews and studies. |
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