WOW! Today is the 10th anniversary that households can make pálinka tax-exempt!
Attending an event on Sunday marking the tenth anniversary of the enactment of a law that exempts household distillers of palinka, the national fruit brandy, from paying excise tax, Prime Minister Viktor Orban called the law a “textbook example of long-term change” from beyond the metropolis.
Since autumn 2010, Hungarian households have been allowed to distil the equivalent of 50 litres of 86 percent pálinka per year for personal consumption tax-free. At the event in Becsehely, in south-western Hungary, Orban said that
“with the revolution of 2010”,
when his Fidesz party first won a two-thirds majority in parliament, “we gave ourselves the opportunity to change everything we deemed ripe for change”.
PM Viktor Orbán. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/orbanviktor
“Collect all the essential ingredients of life here, all that is worth taking forward into the future and passing on to our children … and forward it to your representative in parliament” to be enshrined in law, the prime minister told the event’s participants.
“This will guarantee our ability to lead our Hungarian lives in the way it pleases us,” he said. Orban said the law was not only “an example from the past” but also “a guide to the future”.
We reported before that, in 2019, less pálinka was distilled − from the fermented fruit mash of farmers and customers – in Hungary than in previous years, but the total amount – calculated with a distillate of 50 proof –
still approached 8.5 million litres.
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on official and homemade pálinka production are still uncertain, but the economy protection measures will definitely help distilleries. Although pálinka producers’ turnover decreased last year, almost 8.5 million litres of pálinka was produced, reported the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary to Magyar Nemzet. This figure is approximately 1 million litres less than the total amount distilled in 2018.
According to a distillery owner from Bereg, there is still a great demand for pálinka; however, money – and the lack of it – is a determining factor. So far,
the coronavirus pandemic has not reduced the demand for the iconic Hungarian fruit brandy.
Read also Coronavirus – Hungarian mayor makes disinfectant out of pálinka.
The distiller added that the mash can only be stored for a certain amount of time; it has to be distilled sooner or later. His business could benefit well from the contribution reliefs introduced by the government to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In recent years, the number of distilleries in the country has been around 550, and this number was 553 at the beginning of the year.
Source: MTI, Daily News Hungary
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3 Comments
WOW? Really? Alcohol consumption kills thousands every year in Hungary, and you say WOW! to a piece of populist legislation that contributes to this? You should say “WOW” to initiatives that try to lower alcohol consumption, alcoholism and supports a healthy lifestyle through healthy eating and drinking..
You ran a news piece on 27 Jan 2020 which stated that it is believed that close on 1 million people in Hungary – 1/10th of the population – are abusing alcohol in a dangerous way. Is this Orban’s ‘ability to lead our lives in a way that pleases us’.?
#Anonymous: The Dailynewshungary stick ‘wow’ at the beginning of any old article irrespective of content; they seem to think that it is clever or funny. Must be some sort if Hungarian joke.