New York state’s
apple industry is applauding approval in Congress of an overhaul of how hard cider is taxed that will
allow New York state hard ciders to be more competitive in the marketplace.
The U.S. House of Representatives
passed the measure as part of the so-called tax extenders bill approved Thursday, while the U.S. Senate approved it today (Friday, Dec. 18) as part of a combined tax and government
funding bill.
The House and
Senate bills included language from bills introduced in both chambers earlier
this year to level the playing field regarding how hard cider is taxed relative
to other alcoholic beverages such as champagne, wine and beer.
U.S.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the “Cider Investment and Development
through Excise Tax Reduction (CIDER) Act of 2015” with five bipartisan
cosponsors in May.
New York’s U.S. Rep.
Chris Collins (R-27) introduced similar bipartisan legislation in the
House of Representatives in January with Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer.
Several
U.S. representatives from New York subsequently co-sponsored that House bill:
Richard Hanna (R-22), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-18), Charles Rangel
(D-13), Elise Stefanik (R-21) and Paul Tonko (D-20).
“As the
second-largest apple producing state in the country, New York should be the
core of hard cider boom we are seeing now. With this sensible change, our hard
cider makers can sell more cider and grow their businesses – and that means our
apple growers can sell more apples to those cider makers,” said New York Apple Association President
Jim Allen.
Under current
federal law, depending upon its alcoholic content hard cider can be taxed at same
rate as wine, $1.07 per gallon – and depending upon its carbonation, it can be
taxed at the even higher champagne rate of $3.30 per gallon.
The CIDER Act
provision included in the tax extender bill changes the definition of hard
cider to tax it at $.23 per gallon, equivalent to beer.
President Barack
Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.
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