Canadian brewers have called on the Federal Government to scrap plans for an automatic excise duty increase, claiming that taxes already account for 47 percent of the cost of a bottle of beer.
Beer Canada, the industry association has launched “axethebeertax,” a new campaign against what it described as “runaway taxation.”
A news report by Tax-News.com indicated that budget 2017 increased excise duties on alcohol products by two percent and also provided that rates be automatically adjusted by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on April 1 of every year, starting this fiscal year.
The association noted that Canada already had “one of the highest beer taxation rates in the world”, adding that the CPI escalator “will continue to drive the tax rate up, unchecked, with no end in sight.”
Commenting on the issue, the Chairman of Beer Canada, George Croft said: “Imagine being stuck on an escalator going up and up, and you cannot get off, and you cannot make it stop – that’s what beer lovers in Canada are facing with this escalator tax. We need people who love beer to help us axe the escalator tax.”
The industry association has called upon drinkers to sign a petition against the measure, and to write to their MP and the federal Finance Minister.
According to the group, 85 percent of beer consumed in Canada is made in the country, with the “beer economy” contributing CAD13.6bn (USD10.9bn) a year to Canada’s GDP.
It also said that the industry supports 149,000 jobs and generates CAD5.7bn in tax and other revenues yearly.
