See under sparkling wine tax.
Germany is the last country in the EU where a sparkling wine tax has to be paid. It was introduced in 1902 by Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) to finance the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal (since 1948 the Kiel Canal) and the imperial navy. Its amount at the time was 50 pfennigs per bottle. The effect paid off, as 11 million bottles of German sparkling wine were taxed in 1905. Although the tax was abolished in 1933 as a measure to overcome the economic crisis, it was reintroduced in 1939 in the form of a war surcharge, especially for the development of the submarine fleet. It provoked the production of the cheapest sparkling wines. The wording...
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