Beer makers anxious over end of excise tax cut
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Raytown (KCTV) — Local brewers are expressing concern about taxes and what might happen after the new year when a tax law expires.
The beer is flowing in Raytown at Crane Brewing Company. Business is good now, vice president and co-founder Chris Meyers said.
He credits the expansion of his business in part to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, he Meyers said substantially cut federal excise taxes on America’s brewers.
“For us, we’ve been able to add a canning line. We’ve been able to add some more staff here to kind of grow,” he explained. “At this point, there’s over 100 breweries in Missouri. Almost 10,000 people employed by the industry. Over a billion dollars in revenue to the state.”
The brewer said he believes the legislation helped spur small business growth.
“By cutting these excise taxes in half, it’s really let us move forward, produce more product, get more sales, and actually increase the revenue available to everyone,” Meyers told KCTV5 News.
The problem, he said, is that the excise tax break is set to expire on January 1. No one is sure what will happen in 2020, but Meyers fears brewers across the country would be rocked if the tax break isn’t continued.
“But if it doesn’t go through, you know, we’ll keep moving forward. It may change our plans for this upcoming year, as far as what we want to do,” he said. “Other breweries, it may mean that they have to let employees go, they may have to totally change their goals. There may be some that have to shut down. So, we really don’t want to see this thing not pass.”
Meyers noted the law expiring wouldn’t have a huge impact on big brewers, saying it’s the small brewers it could really hurt. He is encouraging people to contact their legislator to tell them to extend the federal excise tax break.
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