PANJIM: In a major development, the State government has notified a hike in excise duty on liquor.
As per the notification issued by Finance Department, the new rates will be effective from May 15. This leads to a significant increase in the price of all liquor in the State.
The notification states, “Government of Goa hereby fixes the following rates of excise duty, license fee, tree tax, permit fee, import fee, application fee, processing fee, fee for transfer or shifting of licence and fee for recording of label.”
Further as per the notification, bar licence fees will now be charged as per the carpet area of the bar. This implies that larger bars will have to pay a higher licence fee as compared to smaller ones. For some bars this will lead to a 100 per cent hike in fees. In addition to this, the percentage of excise duty will change as per the MRP printed on the liquor packaging.
The notification follows the Chief Minister’s budget announcement in the Assembly. However, MLAs from the treasury benches as well as the opposition had opposed the move to hike the duty.
