The Beer Institute and several other brewing community organisations in the US are lobbying hard to have the federal excise tax, on average at USD 0.33 per six-pack, halved. The beer industry believes a tax cut would boost consumption, which last year only rose 1.3 per cent, thus safeguarding the about 857,000 brewing-related jobs in the United States, Scripps Howard News Service reports. 30,000 brewery and beer-related jobs have been lost since the tax was doubled in 1991, the Beer Institute argues.

However, several pressure groups, including the powerful Mothers Against Drunk Driving, are opposing a tax cut, arguing that increased consumption is undesirable, as it would also boost teenage drinking. The Governors Highway Safety Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the Consume Federation of America also join the opposition.

Consequently, as of yet, the outcome for the proposed tax cut is still very unclear.

25 April, 2003