Canada, NS: Nova Scotia’s craft brewers asking for equalized alcohol taxes

Nova Scotia’s craft brewers are asking the government to hop to it when it comes to equalizing the province’s booze taxes, The Chronicle Herald reported on April 22.

Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia president Emily Tipton said the province’s craft brewers pay more than double the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation remittance tax paid by wineries and craft distillers when those businesses sell directly to customers at their own shops, private liquor stores and bars.

Craft breweries pay 50 cents for every litre they sell directly, while craft distillers and wineries pay five per cent of wholesale, translating to about 20 cents per litre, she said.

Tipton, a founding partner at Shelburne-based Boxing Rock Brewing Co, said that meant if she sells a 20-litre keg to a bar for C$100, she pays C$10 in tax. If she paid five per cent of wholesale, that number would drop to C$4, she said.

Tipton said the NSLC’s own figures showed the difference amounted to C$400,000 a year in revenue for the government.

“That’s money we would be otherwise investing in our businesses,” she said.

For Tipton, equalized remittances would mean being able to hire a new employee at her brewery. More than 300 people already work in Nova Scotia’s industry, which she says generates C$16 million in sales each year. Other craft breweries, meanwhile, would invest the difference in increasing exports, she said.

Tipton said the association has met with the government three times to discuss the matter, most recently in December and was told then to "wait for the budget."

There was no change in the budget, even though it set aside C$3.5 million for the wine industry.

"I was very disappointed," she said.

A Department of Finance spokesperson said on April 22 that there is no immediate plan for a change.

“We've had discussions with the association and they have made numerous requests of both Service Nova Scotia and the Department of Finance and Treasury Board. This particular request requires changes within the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation. We are committed to looking into their requests in their entirety but at this point no final decisions have been made.”

25 April, 2016