TIMMINS - Do you know how much provincial tax is on your can of craft beer?
Ontario currently has the highest tax rate on craft beer in the country. Altogether, the base beer tax, LCBO fees, can and volume taxes make up 96 cents on every can going to provincial taxes. The rate is eight times higher than in Alberta.
The Ontario Craft Brewers are asking people to write their Members of Provincial Parliament — in Timmins it's George Pirie — and explain the difficulties the taxes on beer cause for small businesses like Full Beard Brewing Co. in Timmins.
“The beer tax just falls to us,” said owner Jonathan St-Pierre. “It's on us in production.”
The provincial tax is the focus for where craft brewers want to see change.
“We pay if it goes into cans, growlers, kegs. On tap or in kegs is the least amount of tax we pay," St-Pierre said.
That motivates brewers to open brew pubs to get the most out of their sales on-site.
“We don’t want to impede on our licensees, because we sell a lot of draft with our customers, so for us, we’re happy not being designated as a brew pub,” said St-Pierre.
Between 2010 and 2019, craft beer grew fast in Ontario, from 40 breweries to over 300.
“We’ve got four staff here, and we hire local,” said St-Pierre.
The provincial government has agreed to revise their taxation of brewers, but an email statement sent to TimminsToday did not detail what that will look like.
“The government will be conducting a review of alcohol taxes, mark-ups and fees on beer, wine, and alcoholic beverages with the aim of ensuring competitiveness and value for consumers,” said Ministry of Finance Deputy Director of Media, Issues, and Legislative Affairs Colin Blachar.
The provincial government froze the basic beer tax in February this year, promising no increases until 2026.
“Our government has been there for our local brewers and is keeping costs down by freezing the beer tax every single year we could,” said Brachar “To support brewers and wineries to recover and grow and to save consumers money, Ontario paused the scheduled increase in beer tax rates and cancelled the scheduled increase in wine tax rates put in place by the previous Liberal government.”
The taxes have been tweaked and changed repeatedly over the years, but a solid plan has yet to be put in place, said St-Pierre
“We’re trying to find a solution where it’s one strategic plan outlined for this,” he said.
The Save Local Craft Brewing website has more information on the taxes and what people can do to help.
