BEER Act excise tax legislation introduced to the House, BA sounds off

Recently, bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress to promote small brewery job creation. Supported by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers, the Small BREW Act seeks to recalibrate the federal beer excise tax that small brewers pay on the beer they produce.

Last week, an alternative excise tax legislation, entitled the BEER Act, was introduced in the House. Bob Pease, CEO of the Brewers Association, issued the following statement on the BEER Act:

“While the Brewers Association supports lowering excise taxes for small brewers, the BEER Act is not the way to do it. There are several problematic issues with this legislation including cost to the country, job creation and fairness.

“The BEER Act gives further tax advantages to multinational brewing companies that not only already pay lower rates than purely domestic brewers, but also have cut thousands of U.S. jobs in the past six years and export and shelter their U.S. profits.

“We stand firmly rooted in our support for the Small BREW Act, fair legislation that will allow small brewers to remain competitive in the marketplace, reinvest in their businesses, reinvigorate local economies and continue their role in rejuvenating the job market in the U.S.”

For an at-a-glance comparison of the legislation check out the infographic below and our breakdown of the two from last year:

Head over to the Brewers Association website for more info.