Beer Tax Overhaul Pits Big Brewers Against Crafty Upstarts

The Washington Examiner asks Michelle Minton to discuss the potential changes in tax policy facing big and small brewers:

Michelle Minton, consumer policies study fellow at the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the main beneficiaries would be medium-sized brewers. "The BREW Act would increase the number of barrels a brewer could produce and still qualify for the reduced excise tax rate. That will pull in some of the larger craft brewers like Boston Beer Company and Sierra Nevada," she said.

…

Minton says either the BEER Act or the BREW Act would be an improvement over current policy. The major brewers' approach would be the better one, she said, since it would be broader and more comprehensive.

A much better approach would be to scrap the excise tax entirely, Minton said. "Excise taxes should not be used to penalize companies just because they are large. They should be reduced across the board or just scrapped."