The taxman drinketh: 43% of South Carolina beer sales goes to state, feds - Charleston Post Courier
The most expensive ingredient in beer these days is taxes. The tax burden on Palmetto State beer lovers amounts to 43 percent of the cost of every six-pack sold in South Carolina, according to a new study by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute, a trade group. Most of that amount is state and federal business and excise taxes, plus state sales tax. The federal and state governments “collect a bevy of special taxes on the production and sale of beer, unlike most consumer products,” the report states. “Many of these, including both the federal and state excise tax, are hidden taxes, meaning that the consumer is unaware that they are paying them. South Carolina has the nation’s fourth-highest tax burden on beer guzzlers, behind Mississippi (60 percent). Beer is big business in South Carolina, especially in the Myrtle Beach area, where 2,149 brewing, wholesale and retail jobs paying $64 million are directly related to the industry. Nationally, the beer industry contributes about $48. 5 billion in taxes and $252. 6 billion in economic output — equal to about 1. 5 percent of the U. S. gross domestic product. “Beer is more than our nation’s favorite adult drink,” Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the Beer Institute, said in a statement. Source: www.postandcourier.com
