Beer Canada calls for federal beer tax relief

Beer Canada is calling on  Chrystia Freeland, deputy prime minister and finance minister to include federal beer excise duty relief in the upcoming Fall Economic Statement.

Without remedial action from Parliament, federal beer excise duties will increase by 4.7 per cent on April 1, 2024, under a rigid inflation-indexing formula embedded in the Excise Act since 2017.

“We appreciate the critical importance minister Freeland and the government places on affordability, stabilizing prices and supporting hard working middle-class Canadians,” said CJ Hélie, president of Beer Canada. “Freezing or capping beer tax hikes in this era of sticky high inflation is a practical, sensible policy lever that should be included in the upcoming Fall Economic Statement.”

Last year’s federal Budget replaced the previously scheduled 6.3 per cent inflation-tied federal beer tax increase with a cap of two per cent for the current year with the expectation of a quick return to a stable and low inflation environment.

“We had tremendous support from members of Parliament from all parties last year to ensure we avoided a catastrophic 6.3 per cent tax hike, but unfortunately persistent higher than expected inflation means a damaging 4.7 per cent beer tax increase next year unless Parliament takes appropriate action again,” said Hélie. “Canadian brewers of all sizes and regions are joined by our unionized workers, and supply chain partners from the barley field to our hospitality and tourism partners, in a united call to spare the sector from the single biggest beer tax increase in 40 years.”