Brewers want you to know the cold, hard truth about the price of your cold ones.The federal government is set to increase the tax on local and imported beer by about 2 per cent starting this April. The increase will roll over every year in line with inflation — which has the brewing community up in arms.“Obviously this is troubling because it’s going to automatically increase prices for our customers, who are already paying a 47 per cent tax rate on average across the country,” said Luke Harford, president of Beer Canada, the trade association advocating for the brewers.Read more:New Ontario booze tax saps craft distilleries’ spiritLiberals to hike taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, go after tax cheats in new budgetSaskatchewan town seeks to ban alcohol sales on certain daysBeer Canada has launched a national campaign to get the government to scrap this tax increase. Axe the Beer Tax asks the public to sign a petition and write to their MPs voicing concerns. “Our point is that, if they want to increase tax they should talk about it every year as opposed to hiding it in the legislation where it automatically goes up every year,” Harford added.The group believes the hike will hurt an industry that has already seen a decline in recent years. A report published Monday by the Conference Board of Canada shows per capita consumption of beer declined by 10 per cent over the past decade. The high price is among the contributing factors, according to the report.The report also shows beer remains a popular beverage among Canadians, comprising as much as 40 per cent of all alcohol sales. Beer also generates some $5.7 billion in annual tax revenues, the report says.According to a Ministry of Finance spokesperson, “The annual inflationary adjustment will provide alcohol producers with greater certainty in the future and is in line with actions taken by many provinces.” The ministry added that the 2-per-cent increase amounts ...
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