Photo credit: Cbc.ca

The people who feel the pinch from the excise beer tax, which will go up each year, are those with low incomes, says Joe Lesica, an assistant professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. That’s because they tend to buy the bigger brands, which will be taxed more than craft brewers. (CBC)

‘In order for this to cost the average consumer a dollar a case, it will take until April 1, 2040’

Headlines about a new beer tax may have you worried about paying more for your next pint, but some experts say you won’t even noticed the “escalator tax” — at least not for a while.

Just putting the words “beer” and “tax” side-by-side makes people nervous, said Toronto beer writer and expert Jordan St. John.

“People tend to freak out,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “For the average beer drinker, it will not matter at all.”

The federal excise tax — which means it targets beer makers specifically — is currently $31.84 per hectolitre. It will increase to $32.32 per hectolitre this April and then will go up each year based on inflation.

Industry lobby group Beer Canada argues “runaway taxation” on beer will impact “beer lovers and beer makers from coast to coast.”

“Imagine being stuck on an escalator going up and 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,” George Croft, Beer Canada chairperson and president of Kitchener-based Waterloo Brewing, said in a release.

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  Filed under: Business of Beer, Politics & Advocacy
  Tagged under: beer, Beer Canada, beer tax, Canada, Craft Brewers, Escalator Tax, Federal Excise Tax