OT: your tax dollars at work

_________________________belated News Flash!______________________ Your Tax Dollars at Work: Evidence of Effective Government in Action!

On July 19, 2001 the BATF said gooseberry and similar non-grape wines could finally be sweeter. Since it had just gotten around to implementing a provision of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 which made sweeter gooseberry wines possible, this change was declared retroactive to April 1, 1998.

Imagine the relief of thousands of taxpayers who learned that their illegal caches of oversweet gooseberry wine, hidden for as many as three years, could now be released for public consumption!

An amnesty for people consuming oversweet gooseberry wine prior to this announcement is expected. However, grape wines remain unaffected by this action.

excerpted from "Final Rule Relating to the Sweetening and Amelioration of Certain Fruit and Berry Wines" at

formatting link

-- Washington, DC - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) announces that it is amending the regulations relating to the sweetening and amelioration of wines made exclusively from any fruit or berry (excluding grape) with a fixed acid content of 20 or more parts per thousand. "Amelioration" is a winemaking term which refers to the addition of water or sugar to juice or natural wine in order to adjust the acid level or sweetness. Certain high acid fruit and berry wines have traditionally been allowed more ameliorating material than grape wines because their acid levels are naturally higher or their sugar levels lower than grapes.

This final rule implements one of the provisions of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, Public Law 105-34. Section 1417 of that Act amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, which had held that the volume of ameliorating material added to juice or wine -- in the case of loganberries, currants or gooseberries only -- could not exceed 60% of the total volume of ameliorated juice or wine. Section 1417 of Public Law 105-34 extended that amelioration and sweetening limitation to include wines made from any fruit or berry with a natural fixed acid of

20 parts per thousand. These provisions do not apply to grape wines, which do not need this degree of amelioration.
Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed
Loading thread data ...

and sweetening limitation to

Sounds like pure and simple GooseBerrie-Manderdering rules to me finally got cured.

Reply to
ArtU

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.