Safety sticker on liquor bottles brought 20% income to Excise dept.- Siyambalapitiya

While commenting on the proposal made to paste security stickers on liquor bottles, the Excise Department had gained a 20% income when compared with the sales done in the past 10 years, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said. 

He sais the alcohol tax revenue has increased in a background where the consumption of alcohol has come down by 30%.

The reason for this growth is that the money spent on illegal or fake alcohol is received as tax revenue, the Minister points out that. 

He said the use of counterfeit alcohol has been strictly avoided by this safety sticker which was introduced in 2016 by a budget proposal. He said many secret signs have been printed on the relevant sticker.

The Excise department has the equipment to identfy wether the stickers fake or not

Moreover, the consumers also has the capability to check if the product in question is fake via scanning the QR code printed on the label.

Therefore, the alcohol smugglers have suffered a severe setback and they are questioning the quality of this sticker, the State Minister added. (Chatruanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)