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Tax-free vintage toasts leader

November 28, 2009 Edition 1

SOFIA: Bulgarian villagers have named their home-made rakia brandy "Borisovka", playing on the name of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov to thank him for stopping parliament from raising taxes on alcohol.

Last month, the Balkan country's new centre-right government abandoned plans to raise alcohol taxes after public anger that this would threaten a centuries-old tradition of making wine and rakia at home.

But the parliament's budget commission later proposed a hike from 2010 and parliament was due to approve the increase on Wednesday when Borisov, a firefighter by training with a black belt in karate, stepped in and asked deputies to scrap the plan.

To express their gratitude, the villagers of Kapatovo, 170km south of the capital Sofia, decided to call their 2009 rakia "Borisovka".

Bulgarian families are allowed to produce 30 litres a year of rakia, a grape brandy, without paying tax. - Reuters

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