Brewers push for rollback of beer tax
The Beer Institute, the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group representing big brewers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, is using the 75th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal to push for a rollback of the federal beer tax. The group calls the tax “excessively high,” arguing that it disproportionately hits lower- and middle-income consumers.
The Institute told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in April that it hoped the tremulous economic times would help gain traction for its argument that a rollback would provide relief both for drinkers and a major American industry, stimulating job growth and juicing revenue that could fund local projects.
The Institute dishes stats to back up its claims. It says that, since the federal beer tax doubled in 1991, approximately 60,000 Americans lost their jobs in brewing, distributing, retailing, and related industries. (Lager Heads is not sure yet if all of those job losses can be tied strictly to the tax).
The group also says the beer industry employs approximately 1.7 million Americans directly and indirectly, paying them almost $55 billion in wages and benefits. The industry pays over $36 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes, including $5.2 billion in excise taxes and $6.2 billion in sales, gross receipts, and other taxes.
”The past 75 years powerfully demonstrate that a healthy beer industry strengthens the American economy,” said Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute. ”Looking forward, fair tax policies are essential to ensuring that brewers and beer importers can continue making significant contributions across the nation.”
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Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
Cheaper beer sure would be nice as a consumer. I wonder how much the Federal government rakes in on this tax. I read somewhere it’s about the equivalent of .$33 a six pack. Somehow I doubt they’re going to give that money back. Even if the tax were rolled back, I don’t think you’d see that cut passed on to the consumers. People are used to paying what they are paying for beer. Why all of a sudden charge less if the people are already willing to pay what it costs now?
It’s possible we’d see a slight decrease in craft brewery prices, since many won’t/can’t buy their beers due to the price tag, but honestly, if the tax were cut in half, do you think they’re going to change the price from $8.99 a six pack to $8.83 a six pack? Would it make a difference if they did. A tax roll back would simply be a wind-fall for the companies that make the beer, which means yes, perhaps it would stimulate the industry and help create job growth. It would be a lot easier for some of these small guys to act on expansion plans if they had a little more cash on hand to do so.