The taxman’s new found modesty
Poland’s lower house of parliament, the Sejm, recently passed a bill which would lower the excise duty on beer by 30 percent as of May this year when Poland and nine other states will join the European Union. The bill still awaits the president’s signature.
Polish brewers have long lobbied for a lowering of the excise regime in order to preserve Poland’s competitiveness in a common European market. In Poland, today, one must pay twice as much in excise for every half-litre bottle than in neighbouring Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia. For the nine months to September 2003 Polish breweries registered a sales volume of 21.5 million hl beer, an increase of 3.6 percent over 2002. Okocim currently controls 14 percent of the Polish beer market..
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