OTTAWA, ON – Brewery trade organization Beer Canada has announced that it has recommended a number of tax relief measures to the Government of Canada as part of consultations for the upcoming 2022 federal budget.
Its three recommendations made “in support of the government’s stated focus on jobs, growth and making life more affordable” are:
- Defer the April 1st, 2022 and 2023 federal beer excise duty increases to respond to dramatic increase in global inflation and the unique economic challenges facing brewers, the broader hospitality sector and consumers.
- Eliminate alcohol excise duties on non-alcoholic beer, to support healthy lifestyle choices, promote socially responsible health policy, encourage investment, improve product selection and provide non-alcoholic beer with the same excise exemption already afforded non-alcoholic wine and spirits and by Canada’s major trading partners including all other G7 countries.
- Reduce by 50% the excise duty rates applicable to draught beer primarily sold in restaurants, bars and taprooms across Canada to help mitigate the rising food and beverage costs across the hospitality sector and help these businesses successfully recover from the pandemic.
“Now is the time for targeted beer and hospitality tax relief, not to make things worse by increasing federal excise duties on beer,” said CJ Hélie, President of Beer Canada, in a statement. “Adding to inflationary pressures by imposing new taxes on consumers, brewers and the hospitality sector at this time would work against the government’s objective of doing its part to make life more affordable for Canadians”.
For more details, see the full formal submission.
Source: Beer Canada