Lawmakers are responding to the increased demand to lower beer excise taxes, according to Law 360 (http://www.law360.com/articles/498828/lawmakers-push-to-slash-beer-excise-taxes). “The Brewers Excise and Economic Relief Act, or BEER Act, as proposed by senators from Missouri, Utah and other states, would cut the beer excise tax in half, from $18 per barrel to $9 per barrel, saving $1.68 billion in taxes per year, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis.”
The lower excise taxes will particularly help small, craft breweries. Hence the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act, or Small BREW Act, “which would reduce the excise tax specifically for small brewers from $7.00 per barrel to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced by small breweries.”
In addition, there is a proposed act that would modify the definition of hard cider to reduce excise taxes on ciders containing alcohol, treating it like beer rather than wine. “The CIDER Act would also increase the allowed alcohol by volume level in cider beverages from 7 percent to 8.5 percent, and specifically allows ‘hard cider’ to include the use of pear products as well as apple ones.”
But lowering spirit excises taxes is also on the minds of many for 2014.