In Beer In The News, Beer Me BC excerpts news from sources around the world of craft beer. Note that the opinions expressed within are those of the original source and not Beer Me BC.
‘Sneaky’ N.S. Policy Change Gives Craft Beer Tax Break to Labatt
From Huddle, by Trevor Nichols
On April 1, the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation quietly put into effect a new policy that changed its definition of a “local beer producer.”
Passed to “ensure fairness amongst all beer producers,” the Local Beer Production Policy makes every brewery in Nova Scotia subject to the same “taxes,” regardless of their size.
But the province’s craft brewers say the policy is anything but fair. Many believe it was created almost entirely for the benefit of one multinational company.
Kirk Cox is the executive director of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia (CBANS). He says the new policy does little more than give Labatt Breweries a major tax cut at the expense of small, local brewers. Labatt operates the Oland Brewery and Alexander Keith’s Brewery in Nova Scotia.
