Complaints Concerning the Excise Office at Neusponding and Wine Taxation in Vinschgau

Austria.

* From the Adige*, 28 July. In Schluderns, in the tavern and throughout the upper Adige region, loud complaints are heard concerning the excise (Aufschlag*), or rather that the head excise office at Neusponding is not situated in the proper place. “For why,” the people say, “should we, who grow no wine, be obliged to pay excise on the wine we require for our household needs during hard labour, while those below the office also enjoy the benefit that wine grows for them? They thus have a twofold advantage: their own wine produce and exemption from the excise. Moreover, during critical times, we certainly did our part to ensure that the enemy did not penetrate into the country. Were the head excise office located at Töll, it would be in the right place and we would gladly bear the charge; it would then be an equitable tax, and we would more easily endure that which now burdens us twice over.” Anyone acquainted with local conditions can hardly deem these complaints unjust; under the present establishment of the excise office in Neusponding, all innkeepers and private individuals from Töll up to and including Eyers are exempt from the duty, and of the former there is indeed a great number who can obtain their wine from Meran or the Adige valley free of excise. — In relocating the office to Neusponding, one presumably had in mind the larger sum of revenue that was expected to flow in. It was anticipated that wine produce from Töll upward would yield substantial sums, which, however, cannot be the case at all, since these wines, owing to their thin quality, do not constitute marketable goods and thus find not the slightest sale. The smallest landholders in the district of Glurns obtain all their wine from Meran and not an ounce from the region between Töll and Kartsch, where the last vines grow. Were the office moved back to Töll, where it was formerly located, not only would the spirits of the inhabitants in the judicial district of Glurns be calmed, but a far higher revenue from the excise would also be attained. The public mood, however, is severely agitated. People are particularly incensed, indeed almost embittered, over the abolition of the privilege to pay only half the excise on wine required for household consumption, claiming that they were deceived by the innkeepers, who allegedly submitted a petition without their knowledge or consent stating that the beneficiaries regarded this concession as unlawful. False signatures are even said to have been affixed to this

petition. This sounds entirely credible; for who would spurn a favour granted by the Emperor in reward for proven loyal devotion — and that in a district where the peasantry is anything but prosperous, with many wandering about begging for bread? — May these circumstances meet with due regard and consideration in the proper quarters!