New House bill mirrors Senate legislation on beer excise-tax reform

Two weeks after a similar bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate, Congressmen from Minnesota and Wisconsin have introduced legislation into the House of Representatives that would lower the excise tax for beer production and, perhaps more importantly, bring together two major industry trade groups in support of how to structure the cuts.

House bill 2903, the Craft Beverage and Modernization and Tax Reform Act, would decrease the federal excise tax on beer to $3.50 per barrel for the first 60,000 barrels produced each year by domestic brewers who brew fewer than 2 million barrels annually. For all other brewers, the first 6 million barrels would be taxed at $16 per barrel, with the tax coming in at $18 for every barrel produced above 6 million.

Currently, for brewers producing more than 2 million barrels per year, the tax is $18 per 31-gallon barrel. For smaller brewers, the tax is $7 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels and then $18 after that.

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Reps. Erik Paulsen, a Minnesota Republican, and Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, introduced the legislation into the House. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon two weeks ago introduced Senate bill 1562, with the same name, drawing praise from both the Boulder-based Brewers Association and the Washington-based Beer Institute.

The two trade organizations have both been pushing for reform of the excise tax on beer for years, but had been at odds about how reform should be structured. The Brewers Association represents small and independent craft breweries, while the Beer Institute represents the brewing industry as a whole, as well as beer importers and supply industries.

Getting both groups behind a single piece of legislation could be key to reaching their desired goal, rather than pushing competing bills as they have in recent years.

“We look forward to working with our colleagues at the Beer Institute and other industry stakeholders, as well as members of Congress, to get this comprehensive, bipartisan legislation passed,” Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease said in a press release.