Freeze tax hike on booze excise duties: MP

An Okanagan member of parliament is among those calling on the Liberal government to freeze the automatic escalator tax increase on alcohol excise duties that takes effect today (April 1).

Tracy Gray, Conservative critic for Small Business Recovery and Growth and MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, said small businesses are already taking on an average of almost $170,000 in new pandemic-related debt, and now is not the time to make doing business more expensive with another tax increase.

“From coast-to-coast-to-coast, Canada has thousands of high-quality wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries,” said Gray. “Over 95 per cent of these producers are small businesses, many of which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation crisis, payroll tax increases, labour shortages, and ongoing supply chain issues.”

Gray went on to say the increase in the excise tax on alcohol will hurt the entire industry, from growers, to producers, to restaurants, to consumers, and will be higher than normal due to the record inflation.

“Canada’s alcohol producers stepped up and retooled during the COVID-19 pandemic to manufacture products like hand sanitizer. Agriculture producers are already facing serious supply chain disruptions, and the hospitality sector was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Instead of supporting their recovery, the NDP-Liberal government is slapping small businesses with yet another tax increase.”

Earlier today, Conservative MP Pat Kelly introduced a bill which would permanently repeal the escalator tax hike on alcohol.