A bipartisan caucus of craft brewer supporters has jumped into the debate over tax reform, The Hill reported.
The House Small Brewers Caucus, the largest bipartisan caucus on Capitol Hill with 225 members, is currently focused on passing the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. According to the bill's supporters, a lower excise tax would help brewers save money and raise competition, which would "enable the craft beer industry's continued growth," in the words of Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the caucus vice chairman.
Washington, D.C.-based brewer Brandon Skall, co-founder of brewery DC Brau, applauded the bill in an interview with local news station KWQC in June.
"D.C. really needed to have this, and we wanted to be the first ones to make it happen," he said.
"Since day one we've always been battling resources. Whether it's raw ingredients, whether it's staff, and mainly because we're growing at such a rapid rate, we don't have all the finances we need to support that at any given time," Skall continued.
"It's about jobs, jobs, and more jobs," caucus member Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., told The Hill. "There are some 32,000 people involved in independent brewing in Pennsylvania alone. You look at those numbers and you say, ‘Oh my gosh, this has a significant impact on local economies.'"
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., founded the caucus, of which he is co-chairman, 10 years ago, when there were only 1,470 craft breweries in the country. Today that number has skyrocketed to 5,500. The congressman's office claims only eight percent of congressional districts lack a craft brewery.
DeFazio's fellow Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee and the co-chairman of the Senate Bipartisan Small Brewers Caucus, revamped the Senate's version of the bill in a wide-ranging overhaul of federal alcohol excise tax code.