Another year of excise tax relief for brewers is closer to reality. As expected, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a one-year extension of the federal excise tax relief for alcohol producers and importers.
Late Thursday evening, the committee voted 25 to 17 to include language from the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2019 into a package of tax cut extenders. The legislation now advances to the House floor.
”Ensuring all brewers and beer importers can continue to count on federal excise tax relief is key to making sure our nation’s more than 7,000 active brewers continue to thrive, innovate and provide Americans with more varieties and styles of beer — our nation’s most popular alcohol beverage,” Beer Institute (BI) president and CEO Jim McGreevy said in a press release.
Although the House committee recommended only a one-year extension of the excise tax cuts, industry trade groups say they will continue the effort to make the tax breaks permanent.
In a statement to Brewbound, Brewers Association president and CEO Bob Pease said: ”As this legislation moves forward in the House and Senate, we will continue to work very closely with our allies to ensure America’s small and independent breweries pay the lower rate and, as a result, have the capital and certainty they need to continue to expand their businesses and hire additional workers.”