Page 26 - Hafen Hamburg Magazin

■ PORT OF TASTE
Lifestyle produce fills tax coffers
Who would have thought it? Half of the entire federal budget is gathered by German Customs. For example, the Main Hamburg Customs Office located in HafenCity collects most nationwide, having generated some 30 billion euros in 2018.
Roughly half (17 billion euros) are excise taxes from the energy sector such as, for example, petrol and lifestyle produce i.e. alcoholic beverages, coffee, beer, sparkling wine, semi-finished products (nei- ther beer, sparkling wine, nor wine), tobacco and al- copops.
minimum tax rate based on an EU regulation is zero eu- ros. This above all benefits the member countries that produce a lot of wine: “Since the tax is normally raised at the time of production and has to be paid then,” says Nina Jensen, an official responsible for excise taxes at
Some lifestyle produce is sub- ject to harmonised excise taxes. These are taxes, which apply throughout the EU. Non-harmo- nised taxes are raised on coffee and alcopops, only applying na- tionally. All lifestyle produce commodities are listed in a cata- logue along with the amount of excise duty to be charged.
Smuggling during yesteryear – exhibits from Hamburg Customs Museum
the Main Hamburg Customs Of- fice. Within the European Union, tax otherwise has to be paid based on the country of destina- tion principle. “When excisable goods reach another member state, under the free movement of goods tax regulations, for commercial purposes in that tax territory, then they are subject to excise duty there,” she explains. For coffee, too, there is one pe- culiarity: it becomes taxable once it is roasted.
ALCOHOL PURITY LEVEL
COUNTS
Throughout the EU, alcoholic beverages are taxed on the volume of pure alcohol. In the case of beer, the original gravity is decisive for the level of tax – meas- ured in degrees Plato. For coffee, it depends on weight. Otherwise, tax rate guidelines apply, from which a standard minimum tax rate emerges. For wine, the
COFFEE BRINGS IN MOST MONEY
The Hamburg Customs Office gathers most money with coffee, since there are a number of roasting plants operating there. The traditional family-owned enterprise, Darboven, has its headquarters in the Elbe conurbation. Ranking in second place in the
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JIN LING CIGARETTES FROM CHINA WERE ILLEGALLY IMPORTED FOR SOME TIME. ALCOHOL IS ALSO SMUGGLED
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