Twenty-five U.S. senators are sponsoring a bill that will help the United States craft beer industry by reducing the excise tax on beer made by small brewers. Currently, brewers making fewer than 2 million barrels annually pay $7 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels they produce, and $18 per barrel on every barrel thereafter.
The Small BREW Act would change that rate to $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels, $16 between 60,001 and 2 million barrels, and brewers that exceeds 2 million barrels, about 1 percent of the U.S. beer market, would begin paying the $18 rate.
Small breweries with an annual production of 6 million barrels or less would qualify for these tax rates, providing these small brewers with an estimated $60 million per year to invest in their communities and their small business.
Smaller breweries are anchors of local communities and have a significant positive impact on local economies. We need to be investing in industries that invest in the United States and create real jobs here at home. With more than 3,200 small and independent breweries currently operating in the United States and more than 2,000 in some stage of planning, now is the time to help this industry.
