Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/684435
June 2016 WINES&VINES 17 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS that would lower federal excise taxes for wine," he wrote. Among his key points: • Tax credits expanded for small producers, replacing the current structure with a new, tiered credit system for domestic and imported wines. The new sched- ule would allow credits ranging from $1 per gallon for the first 30,000 gallons produced to 90 cents per gallon for the next 100,000 gallons to 53.5 cents per gallon for the next 620,000 gallons. "All wine produced over 750,000 gallons will be taxed at the regular rate. The provision removes the existing prohibition against claiming the credit for naturally sparkling wines. It would also reduce the tax rate for sparkling and carbonated wine from $3.40 and $3.30, re- spectively to $1.07." • The bill also would expand the alcohol threshold for table wine. "Under present law, still wine is taxed at different rates based on alcohol content. Still wine con- taining not more than 14% al- cohol by volume is taxed at $1.07. Still wine above 14% and less than 21% alcohol by vol- ume is taxed at $1.57 per gal- lon," Kaiser noted. The new s t r u c t u r e w o u l d r a i s e t h e threshold for table wine from 14% to 16%. • Increased carbonation tolerance levels for low-alcohol wines. "Current law provides a toler- ance for still wine of 0.392 grams of carbon dioxide per 100ml of wine, which is generally taxed at $1.07 per wine gallon. Wines ex- ceeding this limitation are taxed as "sparkling wine" at either $3.30 or $3.40 per wine gallon. This bill would increase that tolerance to 0.64 grams of carbon dioxide per 100ml of wine." Wine Institute sent the follow- ing statement about H.R. 4934 to Wines & Vines: "Federal alcohol excise tax policy has not been addressed in 25 years and is in need of reform. There are now more than 8,000 wineries all across the country that are being held back by out- dated policy. This legislation will provide much needed capital for these businesses to invest in equipment, hire new employees, innovate new products and con- tinue to grow. Wine Institute fully supports the effort to comprehen- sively reform all alcohol excise tax policy, and this legislation is an important part of that process." Rep. Thompson's April 14 statement said the bill would "allow our wine community, which produces the finest wines in the world, to keep pace with changing consumer demands in the years ahead." At deadline, co-sponsor Rep. Reichert's office had not re- sponded to Wines and Vines re- quests for comment. —Jane Firstenfeld In addition to requiring specialized equipment to produce, sparkling wine is currently taxed at a higher rate than still wine. www.ivifho.de My wine deserves the best technology! Fresh ideas for winegrowers Hans-Peter Wöhrwag Wöhrwag Winery Stuttgart, Germany