Restaurateurs unhappy with hike in liquor fees

the goan I network
PANAJI
A number of restaurant owners have said that drastic jump in alcohol license fees announced by the state government last week will affect them adversely. The Finance Department has increased the yearly license fees which bars and restaurants have to pay for selling alcohol in their premises.  
For certain categories, the hike in yearly license fees was particularly steep. An AC bar or an AC bar-cum-restaurant selling Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country liquor situated in ‘A’ class Municipality / City Corporation of Panaji (CCP) / coastal villages now has to pay Rs 30,000 yearly license fees compared to Rs 22,000 earlier.  
On similar lines, yearly license fees for a bar or bar-cum-restaurant without an AC but situated in A’ class Municipality / CCP / coastal villages have been hiked to Rs 15,000 now from Rs 12,000 earlier for selling IMFL and country liquor.  
Michael Carrasco, President of All Goa Bars and Restaurants Owners Association, said, “The drastic increase in yearly license fees is going to affect all of us. If the state government had announced 5-10% hike, it would have been understandable. But, they have announced a huge hike. We can’t change the price of food items on our menus based on government announcement.”  
The bars and restaurants will have to pay the increased license fees before March 31 to renew their licenses for the next financial year, 2018-19. However, they still don’t know by how much they will have to increase the price on their menus.  
The department has also increased the excise duty on the manufacture of several kinds of alcohol like whiskey, rum, vodka and beer. “We don’t know the net effect of these announcements yet on the final price of food to consumers. This is because we don’t know yet the landing cost of alcohol after the excise increase. Until we know that, we can’t change prices on our menu,” Carrasco said.  
Rajesh Dessai, proprietor, Ritz Classic, said, “We have to wait to see how the manufacturers change the price of alcohol. If they increase the price of alcohol, restaurants too will have to increase the price on their menus. However, increase in license fees, per se, will not result in increased prices on menus.”