A toast to small brewers ! Senators John Kerry (left) and Mike Crapo (right) introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday
proposing to help America's small brewers grow their small businesses by reducing
their federal excise tax.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday that will ease tax burden on America’s small breweries. Along with initial cosponsors Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe and Oregon Senator Ron Weyden, Senate Bill 3339 (S 3339) http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/111search.html mirrors Massachusetts Congressman Richie Neal and Texas Congressman Kevin Brady’s bill, H.R. 4278.
99+% of America’s small businesses do not pay federal excise tax. Both S 3339 and HR 4278 recognize the challenges which America’s 1,500+ small breweries face as small and independent businesses. Small breweries have had recent success in growing their businesses despite continuing economic challenges or our times.
Both the Senate and House bills propose:
- To reduce the excise tax on the first 60,000 barrels of beer produced from $7 to $3.50 per barrel.
- To redefine small brewers as producing 6 million barrels of beer annually from current 2 million barrel definition. Senator Kerry notes, “The small brewer tax rate was established in 1976 and has never been updated. Since then the annual production of America's largest brewery increased from about 45 million to 107 million barrels.
- To reduce the tax from $18 to $16 per barrel of production exceeding 60,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels. A small brewer will pay the same $18 per barrel excise tax rate that the largest brewer pays at over 100 million barrels.
In a statement released from Senator Kerry’s office states, “As small businesses, small brewers face many economic challenges. Because of differences in economies of scale, small brewers have higher costs for production, raw materials, packaging and market entry than larger, well-established multi-national competitors.
Taxes are not going away. America’s 1,500+ small breweries, employ nearly 100,000 people in communities throughout the country, generating more than $3 billion in wages and benefits and will continue to pay more than $2.3 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes. Those taxes paid will only increase as small brewers grow their businesses.
What does this mean for beer drinkers? It helps small brewers grow their small businesses, creating new jobs as they reinvest in expanding their brewery production. It helps assure that beer drinkers will continue to have access to choice and diversity. It also champions the idea of supporting local companies in communities all across America. Most Americans, on average live within 10 miles of a brewery.
Want to call your Senator and ask them to support this? Go to Resource Page.
Comments