The nation’s rum producers, that is, the rum-makers that pay taxes, have released some data compiled by the Tax Agency (DGII), that shows a year-to-year drop nearing 10%, or some four million liters of rum.
The Dominican Association of Rum Producers (Adopron) says that rum sales are down 9% from 2021.
The rum makers had projected that the end of the pandemic and the nearly-daily news of deaths from the consumption of home-brewed rum would signal an increase in the sales of the legitimate product. However, rum producers now say that the high taxes on rum, especially the Selective Tax, appear to have stymied any real improvement in sales, and encourage consumers to buy the lower costing contraband or home-brewed alcoholic beverages.
Just last week, government agents seized equipment and arrested several persons in San Francisco de Marcoris on charges of illegal manufacture of alcoholic beverages (cleren). Adopron says that the tax evasion related to the illegal market is nearly RD$200 million.
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Listin Diario
7 October 2024