Saturday, 22 March 2014

22.3.14 Latest on Tio Pepe Roundabout; Possible Tax on Spanish Wine

Production of the new sculpture for the Tio Pepe roundabout is under way. Made from high grade stainless steel, Chiqui Diaz’s design will be nine metres high. He has started by moulding the sheet steel into shape, after which he will assemble the piece and then apply patina to the steel, giving it various colours and degrees of polish. Some of it will be mirror-polished to reflect what is going on around the roundabout and interact with the surroundings. It won’t be long now before the roundabout, close to the Corte Ingles store in Jerez, is adorned with its Tio Pepe.


The Spanish Government is proposing to apply a tax on wine. A commission of experts was appointed to look into fiscal reform, and one of their proposals is to raise the tax on wine. This is already in place in fact, but at a rate of zero. France has also done this, but tax is applied at a very low rate on wine and fermented beverages.


The minister for agriculture, food and the environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, who has spent much time in Jerez, has declared his opposition to the idea. He wants to see Spain able to compete with other producer countries, and anyway, sales of wine in Spain are falling. The FEV (Federacion Española del Vino) has also declared opposition to the plan.

No comments:

Post a Comment