San-seong Rice Wine Faces Crossroad of Tax Law
Busan San-seong Makgeolli (rice wine) was prosecuted the tax office under regulations and the industry is facing a crossroads of either reclaiming the market or falling under financial difficulties.
The traditional beverage from the Mount Geom-jeong Fortress Wall, that supplies the rice wine, violated notifying the National Tax Service. This means the product provided to each business after storing it in a bottle as the restriction. The winery partially supplied the makgeolli in a keg and the Geom-jeong tax office disclosed the violation. If the wine is provided in a keg instead of a bottle, there is no tax stamp. On top of the matter, some tax receipts have not been issued, as well.
The San-seong Makgeolli is the Korean Peninsula’s top traditional drink, made under the name of Mt. Geom-jeong Toe-san Wine.
Mt. Geom-jeong Toe-san Wine is a business that is individually operated as an incorporated company joining with the 158 villagers in Geom-sung village. For some time, the wine was offered to restaurants around Geom-sung Dong, Geom-jeong district where the winery is located. All steps in production were done by hand starting from cooking rice, making yeast and pouring it into containers or kegs.
However, being exposed by the taxation office, partially modernizing the traditional methods of making the wine, which has been maintained for approximately thirty years, are not possible.
Persons at Mt. Geom-jeong Toe-san Wine worry, “The winery is the only one to keep the traditional way of producing makgeolli. To initiate automatic systems for filling bottles, some fifty million won is needed, but under the circumstances, people in the low-income bracket have to shoulder a heavy burden. The situation will damage the business finances in the end."
On the other hand, officers at the Geom-jeong tax office said, “Fortunately, everything works out well to restore the fame of the wine with hygienic production according to process modernization. While we are at it, the Busan regional drinks advance towards other areas. Let the other regions to know that Busan has the best traditional wine in the Korean markets.”
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 12.29. 08:45
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