TRENTON, NJ – With out-of-control inflation, rising fuel prices, and other general costs of living expenses on the rise in New Jersey, Trenton Republicans want to ease the burden on booze in the Garden State. That cut could also attract new distilleries and create new jobs in New Jersey.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Parker Space seeks to decrease the Alcoholic Beverage Tax (ABT) rate paid on certain liquors. Space wants to cut the New Jersey alcohol tax by 50%.
“Currently, the ABT rate is $5.50 a gallon of liquor. This bill revises the ABT rate to provide that liquor which is manufactured in a distillery producing no more than 20,000 gallons of distilled alcoholic beverages per year shall be taxed at the rate of $2.75 a gallon; the ABT rate for liquor manufactured in distilleries producing more than 20,000 gallons remains $5.50 a gallon,” Space said.
By decreasing the tax burden imposed on distilleries producing less than 20,000 gallons, Space’s goal is to encourage the start-up of additional distilleries in this State.
Additionally, a lower ABT rate for small distilleries will allow them to become competitive with larger distilleries, which have a scale of economies by their size.