Spending watchdog say collection of excise taxes still flawed

The Czech spending watchdog, the Supreme Audit Office, says in its latest report that the state is still losing considerable sums of money from uncollected excise duties on spirits and tobacco. It highlighted the fact that new rules to tighten up checks for bootleg spirits in the wake of the methanol scandal, in which more than 40 people died, have not really delivered. The new measures included tax labels on spirits and use of cameras. However, in many cases the customs inspectorate does not have the staff to carry out follow-up checks. The same picture holds good for excise duty on tobacco with the office estimating that around 1.4 billion crowns was not collected in taxes due between 2012 and 2014. It pointed out that there was a cut of around 20 percent in customs staff between 2007 and 2014, although some of those losses were later made good after the methanol scandal.

Author: Chris Johnstone