Licence Fee Stupidity

Like everybody else in the wine trade we will have to renew our licence at the end of September. The cost of renewing the licence has doubled since last year from €250 to €500. I know that the government coffers are empty after years of mismanagement and incompetence, but almost everybody agrees that we have to become more competitive as an economy. In order to do this, we have to keep costs down. Everybody is cutting costs, cutting salaries, cutting margins in order to keep their customers happy.

Except the government. They just keep on piling on the charges. I know you might say it is only €250 increase, stop moaning about it, but the cost of any interaction you have with government continues to increase, not just in the wine trade.

The wine trade is just a particularly soft option. Don't forget the 50c increase in duty in the last budget as well and the increase in VAT. Surprise, surprise wine sales are down by 11% this year, resulting in a reduction in excise take for the government.

This is just the kind of visionary leadership we need to steer us out a recession.