In a letter to members of the Missouri congressional delegation, Dan Gosen, president/legislative committee chair, Missouri Craft Distillers Guild, and Chris R. Swonger, president/ceo, Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., urged Congress to include the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (S. 362/H.R. 1175), “which includes a critical tax cut for craft distillers,” as part of the next legislative package before the expiration of current rates at the end of the year.
“Missouri distillers have been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic,” they explained, adding passage is “critical to the recovery of distilleries as well as restaurants, bars, and other on-premise establishments and to continue to engage with the Administration on policies that affect our industry.”
They also urged passage if the Restaurants Act, would also provide critical relief for restaurants, bars, tasting rooms, and other on-premise channels that have been devastated by COVID-19. The noted a recent DISCUS study, in conjunction with the American Distilling Institute, found “craft distillers have seen 41% of their revenue disappear as tasting rooms have shutteredand restaurants and bars have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill would provide grants to eligible establishments for payroll, benefits, mortgage, rent, utilities, and other expenses and is a critical step forward for the recovery of the hospitality industry. ”
Finally, they asked Congress to urge the Administration to work with the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) to secure the simultaneous removal of tariffs on distilled spirits products –a move that would support jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
EU tariffs have had a devastating impact on American Whiskey exports, including from Missouri distillers, resulting in a 41% decline from $757 million (July 2017 to June 2018) to $449 million (August 2019 to July 2020).The EU may impose new tariffs on other U.S. spirits in the coming weeks if these trade disputes, which are unrelated to the spirits sector, are not resolved soon, they said..