The American Craft Spirits Association reports that there is increasing support on Capitol Hill for the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2019 with 315 co-sponsors in the U.S House of Representatives and 73 in the Senate.
The Act, if passed, will make permanent the revised federal excise tax rates for wine, beer and spirits that was signed into law in 2017 and is set to expire in two months. The Act treats small producers of all three alcohol beverage commodities favorably with significant excise tax reductions for producers of these products. As an example, for craft-brewers that produce less than two million barrels of beer a year the tax rate on the first 60,000 barrels is reduced to $3.50.
Favorable tax rates are codified for spirts and wine leading to enthusiastic support for the Act from both industries including from more esoteric small cider and mead producers whose drinks are gaining in popularity.
The Act addresses a variety of issues in addition to tax rates including providing supplementary funding for the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) which would be used for designing programs for faster formula and label approval and faster permit application processing. Funds are also earmarked for the cost of programs for trade enforcement violations.