transporter
Well-Known Member
...or not.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/...cuts-mostly-foreign-and-industrial-producers/
The frequent assertion that the tax cut is for craft brewers and distillers is misleading.
◦For every $20 of alcohol tax cuts in the legislation, only about $1 actually goes to the true craft brewers or small distillers.
◦Most of the revenue—the other $19—goes to larger producers and to importers. This is largely because of new or expanded opportunities to evade or avoid the limits on what qualifies for the lowest tax rates. For instance, it’s plausible that a third to one half of all distilled spirits sold in the U.S. will qualify for the reduced rate.
◦By allowing alcohol from foreign and large domestic producers to be passed off as “craft,” certain parts of the legislation may put America’s real small brewers and distillers at a competitive disadvantage.
The new law reduces the excise tax rate on the first 60,000 barrels of beer by 50 percent (from $7 to $3.50) no matter how small or large the brewer. It cuts the tax on the first 100,000 proof gallons of distilled spirits by 80 percent (from $13.50 to $2.70), and by 40 percent on the first 30,000 gallons of most wine (from $0.17 to $0.07 after the increased wine credit). Because these small producers are targeted with the biggest cuts, they must represent most of the revenue, right? Not true.
Small brewers (those producing less than 60,000 barrels) only produced 4.6 percent of all U.S.-made beer in 2016 (about 8 million barrels). And because they already benefited from a lower $7 per barrel tax, while most beer was taxed at $18/barrel, they accounted for only about $56 million in taxes or 1.5 percent of total beer tax revenues (including imports).[1] Cutting their taxes in half should only cost about $28 million.
The story is similar for distilled spirits.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/...cuts-mostly-foreign-and-industrial-producers/