The Brewers Association spent eight years asking lawmakers to lower excise taxes for small breweries before Congress approved the cuts in 2017. Those cuts were set to expire last year before they got a fleeting one-year extension. This week, Congress approved a large pandemic-era economic stimulus bill that would make those tax cuts permanent—among several other provisions beneficial to small businesses.
Among other provisions, the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) reduced the excise tax to $3.50 per barrel for the first 60,000 barrels of beer made at smaller breweries—those producing 2 million barrels or fewer per year. For larger breweries, it also reduced the rates to $16 per barrel for the first 6 million barrels produced, and to $18 per barrel beyond that. The law also included tax relief for winemakers and distillers.
The Brewers Association has been lobbying in cooperation with other beverage-industry groups to not only renew the tax cuts, but also to make them permanent. They have now succeeded, by getting the provision bundled into the $900 billion spending package, which is meant to stimulate the country’s economy while the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.