USA, WA: Washington state lawmakers may cut taxes for breweries soon

There could soon be a bigger selection of beer in Washington with the hopes of state lawmakers to cut taxes for breweries, krem.com reported on February 26.

One could say No-Li Brewhouse is a popular spot. Glasses not going empty, and taps not going dry. Spokane’s largest brewhouse however has room to grow. Owner John Bryant says a proposed tax break would help.

The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act would lower the federal excise tax from $7 to $3.50. Right now, Washington state craft brewers pay that $7 per barrel in an additional 4.8 per barrel in state tax.

“Really in that system, there’s nearly about $12 a barrel of tax,” Bryant said.

Bryant said he would be able to reinvest about $50,000 a year back into his business if the tax cut were passed.

“We could ultimately buy fermentation tanks, we could give raises, we could hire new people we could update a lot of things that would go right back into the business,” Bryant said.

Bryant thinks it would also give Washington state brewers a better leg up on competing states like Oregon. According to the Brewers Association Oregon’s excise tax is about half that of Washington’s.

“I think part of what’s happened because we are so much more heavily taxed in Washington versus Oregon craft brewers is the two top selling craft brews in packages in the state of Washington are from Oregon, and the top selling craft brews in Oregon are from Oregon. So we are really just outsourcing our jobs and tax base and economy to the state of Oregon,” Bryant said.

“We believe in paying our fair share of taxes to support the quality of life we enjoy in the State of Washington but I think that small brewers are having a significant positive impact on employment and a real economic contribution but most of us are also not profitable or barely so. As a result, a tax cut would improve our bottom line and allow us to continue to employ the people we do and improve our long term contribution. At River City Brewing we are looking at an expansion and adding bottles beer to our current keg line-up and a tax cut would be helpful for that also,” President of River City Brewing, Gage Stromberg said.

A tax cut could keep Oregon and other states from squeezing the beer business in Washington dry.

“Not only home state pride, craft brewing in Washington , home state jobs, home state taxes, home state building and economy so the discussion of fellow craft brewers across the state is we want to build a thriving community that supports our communities,” Bryant said.

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