Regulation of the Beverage Tax and Relocation of Excise Offices in the Vinschgau

Austrian Monarchy. - Tyrol.

Meran, 20 Jan. The modification in the beverage tax and its collection, enacted by the ordinance of the Gubernium on 25 October and 25 November 1848, gave rise to more or less well-founded objections from several municipalities in the Vinschgau and adjacent valleys that fell behind the excise lines; a government commissioner was recently dispatched to the upper Vinschgau to investigate and settle these disputes. Reportedly, the excise office that stood in olden times at the Töll above Algund and was most recently relocated to Laas will immediately be transferred to the hamlet of Spondinig, Schluderns district, where the Worms road joins the Vinschgau road, and the office in Mauls will be moved to Sterzing. Thereby, innkeepers and tavern keepers of the localities within these lines will benefit from the lower beverage duty, and private individuals will be exempted from tax for their necessary wine consumption in accordance with the special agricultural conditions of these regions, which are partly wine-growing and partly immediately adjacent to them. Without this measure, a far too palpable inequality in the treatment of the subjects of some districts—for instance, the inhabitants of Passeier compared to those of Sarntal, Schnals, and others—would have emerged, and securing the revenues would have required a costly increase in office and supervisory personnel, while the tax revenue loss resulting from the more favourable status of the aforementioned enclaves appears barely noteworthy. – This mediating and timely intervention by the regional authorities has met with sincere and grateful appreciation among the population of those parts of the land. The peasants can be heard saying with a contented look: Since the Gubernium and the excise administration are working hand in hand, we can get by as well! (Lloyd.)