Lawmakers in Albany are doing what they can to ease the tax burden New York craft brewers were recently smacked with—which in turn would help ease the price burden that New York beer drinkers were recently threatened with. The Villager today points us to the fact that some new legislation‐which recently passed in the State Senate and is now heading to the Assembly‐would seriously help bring the cost of local beer production down.
The headache for local brewers really started in March when, spurred on by a Massachusetts firm, the courts ruled that tax credits that local brewers had previously enjoyed were actually unconstitutional. Because of that, brewers suddenly would have to pay 14 cents per gallon in state taxes and an additional 12 cents on every gallon of beer they sold in the city. "It was estimated that costs would jump nearly $500,000 per year for those brewers that annually produce 100,000 barrels." Because of that, brewers we spoke to were openly worrying that they would have to pass those costs on to consumers.
The taxes have already kicked in (the Brooklyn Brewery recently wrote a $28,000 check to the state and was getting ready to pay another $25,000 to the city) but they may not be here for long. The bill that was recently passed in the Senate (as part of a larger economic package) would give "those brewers who produce fewer than 6 million barrels annually a 14 cent per gallon tax credit for the first 200,000 barrels they make each year."
Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senator and beer fan, is doing his part to help out by pushing a federal BEER Act which would offer microbreweries up to 50% tax deductions. Considering New York is one of the top craft brewing states in the union (behind California and Colorado) it makes sense that Schumer would want to help out.
