Distillery bill to lower tax on spirits shot down
Huron-Bruce – A private members bill, first read into the House of Commons in April by Huron-Bruce Conservative MP Ben Lobb, was defeated 156-136 on September 21, 2016.
The proposal, Bill C-232, was targeted to lower excise tax for spirits producers in Canada from $11.69 per litre of absolute ethyl alcohol to $6 per liter for the first 100,000 litres of production and $11 for all alcohol produced above that.
“It is disappointing a bill that would have such a positive impact on small and medium spirit producers in Canada, but also the Canadian agriculture and tourism industry was voted down by the Liberal government,” Lobb said in a press released.
“We’ve had distilleries say, ‘if this happens, if this reduction happens we’ll hire 30 people.’ I had another distiller say, ‘if you do this it will reduce my excise tax by $50,000; we’ll be able to hire another person.’ So this is what we’re talking about. A chance to reduce taxes in a certain sector that’s actually going to create economic activity by purchasing plant and equipment material and also hire more materials,” added Lobb.
In May 2016, former Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak introduced Bill 203, Free My Rye Act – although its future is uncertain as Hudak has left politics.
Conservative MP Ben Lobb’s final statement can be seen in the video below:
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