Entrepreneurs / Small Business  October 14, 2015

New beer excise tax reform bill gaining backers in Congress

BOULDER — With the backing of both the Boulder-based Brewers Association and the Washington-based Beer Institute, new legislation seeking to reform the excise tax on beer production seems to be gaining bipartisan momentum in both the U.S. House and Senate, with Colorado lawmakers helping lead the charge.

The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, House bill 2903, last week eclipsed the 100 co-sponsor mark and has since climbed to 107 cosponsors in the House. That’s almost half of the 218 that it would take to sign a discharge petition that could leap the bill out of committee and straight to the floor for debate and a vote.

Both of Colorado’s senators, Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Michael Bennet, are among the 22 cosponsors of the companion bill in the Senate. In the House, meanwhile, all but one of Colorado’s seven representatives are onboard as cosponsors. That includes Democrat Jared Polis of the second district, which includes Broomfield and Larimer counties and most of Boulder County, and Republican Ken Buck, whose District 4 includes Weld County and most of the city of Longmont. Buck was Colorado’s most recent addition, signing on Sept. 16. Only Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Colorado’s seventh district has yet to sign on in a state where the beer industry is a major economic driver.

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Members of the House and Senate introduced the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act in June and immediately drew praise from both the Brewers Association, which represents small and independent craft breweries, and the Beer Institute, which represents brewers, beer importers and supply industries. Both trade organizations have for years been pushing beer excise-tax reform but were at odds over how such legislation should be structured. Competing bills backed by the two have repeatedly stalled in Congress.

“The outdated tax code is placing an undue burden on craft brewers, and it is acting as a barrier to continued growth for brewers of all sizes,” Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease said in a prepared statement this week. “On behalf of the thousands of small and independent craft breweries doing business and creating jobs all over the country, we thank everyone in Congress who is supporting this important bill.”

The new bill would reduce the federal excise tax to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels for domestic brewers that produce fewer than 2 million barrels annually. It would reduce the tax to $16 per barrel on the first 6 million barrels for all other brewers and all beer importers. And it would keep the excise tax at $18 per barrel for all production past 6 million barrels.

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

Beer Institute president Jim McGreevy has said that the legislation could create hundreds of millions of dollars in economic growth in an industry that generates $253 billion in economic activity.

BOULDER — With the backing of both the Boulder-based Brewers Association and the Washington-based Beer Institute, new legislation seeking to reform the excise tax on beer production seems to be gaining bipartisan momentum in both the U.S. House and Senate, with Colorado lawmakers helping lead the charge.

The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, House bill 2903, last week eclipsed the 100 co-sponsor mark and has since climbed to 107 cosponsors in the House. That’s almost half of the 218 that it would take to sign a discharge petition that could leap the bill out of committee and straight to…

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