Beer Canada today congratulates the Ford government on its decisive action to stop Ontario’s automatically escalating beer tax and help beer drinkers.
“It’s refreshing to see Doug Ford and his Ontario government take the concerns of beer drinkers seriously,” said Beer Canada Chair George Croft. “These automatically escalating beer taxes are unfair to consumers, take money out of their pockets and need to be stopped. We applaud the Ford government’s quick action to address this important issue.”
On average, Canadians pay five times more in beer tax than their American neighbours and, on average, beer taxes comprise nearly half (47 per cent) of the price of beer across the country.
Beer taxes in New Brunswick are already very high and make up a large part of what customers pay at the cash register. At $35.99 for a case of 24 cans, the current price of beer is 62% tax.
The price of beer in New Brunswick has been a major point of discussion in recent years. Last spring, the Supreme Court ruled against New Brunswick resident Gerard Comeau. His offence: purchasing his beer in Québec where the average middle class beer drinker can still afford a beer.
“Canadians will buy beer at their local liquor store as long as the price is fair,” said Beer Canada President Luke Harford. “Tax is a big obstacle to fair beer prices in New Brunswick“.
ABOUT BEER CANADA
Beer Canada is the national trade association that advocates to ensure Canadian brewers are able to operate in a healthy regulatory environment and that beer remains a celebrated part of Canada’sculture. As the national voice of beer, Beer Canada represents over 50 Canadian brewing companies that account for 90% of beer made in Canada and a category that supports 149,000 Canadian jobs, $13.6 billion in real gross domestic product and $5.7 billion in tax revenues for federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. http://beercanada.com
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