By Andy Young
Mitchell Taylor, the managing director and winemaker at Taylors Wines has said that a move to volumetric tax "would be a disaster for the industry".
Following Neil McGuigan's letter to the Australian Financial Review last week, Taylor has written to the same newspaper calling for a quick decision by the federal government regarding wine taxation.
Taylor wrote: "The wine industry is united in its approach to freeze the amount of tax we pay as we are currently the highest-taxed wine-producing country in the World."
He added: "The move to a volumetric tax would be a disaster for the Industry. Administration costs would increase and winemakers would be forced to absorb regular six-monthly CPI adjustments into their very thin margins as the retailers will not pass it on."
Taylor went on to say that his fellow winemakers are against a volumetric tax system and are united behind the Winemakers' Federation of Australia.
Taylor concluded: "We need to build a sustainable and profitable industry for the long term that is competitive and proudly represents Australia in the global markets of the World."