Craft brewers call for B.C. tax overhaul amid economic uncertainty

B.C.’s craft brewers say they’re getting a raw deal from the province and are demanding action to prevent more businesses from shuttering.

British Columbia’s craft brewers are making a desperate appeal to the provincial government over the issue of taxes.

They claim large-scale multinational companies are getting a better deal than local producers.

Meanwhile, 20 breweries around the province have closed over the last year.

Vancouver’s Main Street area is home to some of B.C.’s most celebrated breweries, including the one that shares that same name.

But like much of the industry, Main Street Brewing is in a keg full of trouble.

“If we don’t act on this, you will see breweries close in this neighbourhood,” co-founder Cameron Forsyth told reporters at a news conference at the brewery Thursday.

His business partner and fellow co-founder Nigel Pike highlighted the larger economic context.

“The pressure is on,” Pike said. “Small businesses are closing left, right and centre. We’re part of that equation, whether it’s the restaurants, whether it’s the breweries, everyone is suffering right now.”

The industry is making a public appeal after extended talks with the province, highlighting the string of recent brewery closures.

“I deliver the keg,” Forsyth said. “I make the beer. I buy the ingredients. And then I give the government 20 bucks for the privilege. That’s how we feel about it.”

Brewers want the province to adjust a tax system it says favours large multinational companies over the little guy.

“They’re paying more, per litre, than the world’s largest breweries,” B.C. Crafter Brewer Guild executive director Ken Beattie told reporters of specific craft brewers, while discussing the sliding fee scale based on production. “We’re talking about the number one largest brewery in the world, the number five largest brewery in the world, and the number 24 largest brewery in the world.”

Beyond tax issues, brewers are dealing with uncertainty related to the trade dispute with the U.S.

“So aluminum goes down, gets made into a can, comes back up,” Forsyth said. “I’m not exactly sure what that price change is. By the time it gets turned into a can, it’s a penny. But that’s exactly how we operate. We operate on pennies. We worry about the cost of a can, the cost of a label, the cost of a lid, the cost of a tray that it goes into.”

The BC Liquor Distribution Branch is reviewing the mark up structure, but that work has been paused due to the trade dispute.

And while it says the work will resume, it provided no timeline to CTV News in a statement provided Thursday.

While the craft brewers are also critical of the $9-million in tax rebates given to large scale producers, the BCLDB defended that by saying that figure accounts for just 5.5 percent of annual revenue contributed by the three largest breweries in the province.