COV E R F E AT U R E
“The increases in excise tax will restrict the Canadian wine
industry’s ability to improve productivity and reduce costs to
improve our ability to compete in a global economy. And, since
excise is a flat tax, the largest impact is on value-priced wines,
where consumers are very sensitive to price.
What to do?
As for what these associations are doing in response to this tax to
make both the industry and consumers aware of, Paszkowski said,
“in the Canadian Vintner Association’s 2019 federal pre-budget
submission, we recommended that the Government amend the
Excise Tax Act to eliminate the annual inflation indexation of the
excise duty on wine to ensure that any federal tax increase is sub-ject
to a vote in Parliament. With an election year coming up in
2019, this position would be welcome by any political party and
an easy win.”
Harford says Beer Canada launched a major campaign in
early 2018 called, “Axe the Beer Tax” and gathered more than
50,000 signatures.
“We reached millions of Canadians on YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter. More than 13,000 emails were sent to
the Minister of Finance and members of Parliament asking
them to repeal the escalator tax. Beverage alcohol should
be taxed fairly. Canadians will buy beer at their local retail
store or restaurant as long as the price is fair. We are going to
continue to call on the Government for a repeal of the escala-tor
tax, and continue to grow awareness on why beer costs
so much.”
Westcott says on behalf of Canadian distillers – large and small
– Spirits Canada has launched the “Not on My Tab” campaign.
“The goals of the campaign are to raise awareness of
what is essentially a hidden tax and to encourage ordinary alex_l/123RF
“The goals of the campaign are to raise
awareness of what is essentially a
hidden tax and to encourage ordinary
people to tell the government this is a
misguided and wrong-headed policy.”
– Jan Westcott, President and CEO, Spirits Canada
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