Do craft brewers need a stimulus package?
Heck yes. Watch this video.
The Brewers Association has been working in supporting H.R. 4278, a bill to create a graduated beer excise tax rate of $3.50 and $16 for America’s small brewers, sponsored by U.S. Representatives Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts 2nd District) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas 8th District).
During the 111th Congress, 241 US Representatives have shown their support for small brewers by joining Representatives Pomeroy and Latham in sponsoring legislation to reduce both of the beer excise tax rates paid by small brewers (H.R. 836, the Brewers Excise and Economic Relief Act of 2009). Explanation of H.R. 4278
Currently, a small brewer that produces less than 2 million barrels of beer per year is eligible to pay $7.00 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced each year. Reducing this rate to $3.50 per barrel would provide approximately $15.5 million per year to help strengthen our nation’s smallest brewers and support their efforts to maintain and generate jobs. Once production exceeds 60,000 barrels, a small brewer must pay the same $18 per barrel excise tax rate that the largest brewer pays at over 100 million barrels. Lowering the tax rate to $16 per barrel on beer production above 60,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels would provide small brewers with an additional $26.2 million per year that would be used to support significant long-term investments and create jobs by growing their businesses on a regional or national scale.
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. The ceiling defining small breweries is 2 million barrels. We support raising this ceiling to 6 million barrels to more accurately reflect the intent of the original differentiation between large and small brewers in the US.