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Head of Vernon's Okanagan Spirits leads distillers charge for tax parity with brewers

Distillers seek parity

The CEO of Vernon's Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery is leading a campaign to lower excise taxes on craft distilleries across Canada.

Tyler Dyck is president of the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C.

He is also spokesperson for the Lift Canada’s Spirits petition organized by a coalition of small to large distillers whose goal is to decrease the tax on the industry.

Craft distillers pay an excise tax of $3.81 per 750 millilitres, while craft beer makers pay two cents per 750 millilitres, and the distillers are seeking a level playing field.

The battle has been going for years, says Dyck.

“Reducing the excise would mean more job creation as well as other economic benefits for the communities surrounding the more than 200 distilleries across Canada, including our own right here in the Okanagan,” Dyck said in a press release.

“The U.S. recently reduced their excise tax on spirits, and the economic gains they experienced as a result are too large to ignore. We pay seven times more in excise than they do, so you can see how that is pretty stifling on small distillers here at home.”

The distillers would like a tiered excise tax structure that is similar to the one Canada’s small brewers have.

The group says setting the excise tax to a less punitive level for small distillers would allow them to reinvest, leading to higher local employment and larger demand for local agricultural products used to make their spirits.

The group would also like citizens to raise the matter with federal election candidates.

The petition can be found here.



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