Solicitor-General Rich Coleman told Business in Vancouver that he will consider changing the way wines are taxed at restaurants if industry insiders want him to.
Restaurateurs such as Glowbal Restaurant Group owner Emad Yacoub and Earls Restaurants owner Stan Fuller have long wanted the government to set a flat mark-up fee on wine instead of a percentage mark-up on the total cost of the wine.
The result, they believe, is that consumers will have more incentive to buy more expensive wines because their mark-up would be a smaller percentage than on cheaper wines.
The restaurateurs, like Coleman, support Kevin Falcon’s bid to be premier.
“It’s a pretty sensitive file,” Coleman told BIV.
“Whenever you tinker with tax, there’s a challenge.”
He described the percentage mark-up on wine as being an “ad velorum” tax similar to the one that the BCLDB charges on spirits.
“We have more of a flat tax on beer,” he said. “Different times we have negotiations with the industry and if they want to bring in a flat tax, we will probably look at it and work on it.”