Bill to raise liquor tax gets second reading – proposer abstains

A bill to raise taxes on liquor and wines got its second reading on Monday, February 18, but the man who introduced it abstained from the vote.

Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) legislator Raul Pineda said that party discipline made him abstainfrom voting for the bill he introduced with the intention of lowering the incidence of alcoholism in the country.
This bill was criticized by the opposition benches because they claimed it is a political bill against the family of Vice President, Juan Carlos Varela, who are engaged in the production of liquor.
Pineda appeared later and said the deputies who criticize represent economic interests and companies and "come to this House to defend their businesses, this bill has no name and surname, not for Varela, but for the people who are victims of the excessive use of alcohol."
He challenged his colleagues to question their arguments against the initiative.