“My whole life is wrapped up in my farm,” says Dan Rinke, co-owner, cidermaker and winemaker at Art+Science in Sheridan, Oregon. “It’s just my wife and I. We’re the only two employees working our 50-acre farm. I don’t want to lose it to a stupid tax.”
Rinke is referring to the “Champagne” or “bubble” tax, which kicks hard cider or perry (pear cider) into higher tax brackets if additional fruits outside of apples or pears are added and as the carbonation level increases. These very common and popular co-ferments, as they’re called, can result in producers having to pay roughly 12 times more per gallon than is required for standard apple- or pear-only cider. These major financial constraints don’t just impact cider and perry makers—they apply to mead and winemakers, too.
“This tax has controlled the beverage industry for years,” says Rinke, who makes ciders, wines, perries and co-fermented fruit wines with wife Kim Hamblin.
But these arbitrary brackets, based on fruit and carbonation, may soon change thanks to the bipartisan Bubble Tax Modernization Act (H.R. 7029), introduced to the House of Representatives on January 18. The bill would remove the differentiation between various lower-alcohol, fruit-based sparkling beverages outlined in the current law by allowing them the same carbonation levels afforded to hard apple and pear ciders—without charging producers higher tax rates.
The proposed change comes at a critical time for the U.S. cider industry. Large and small producers are under increasing pressure from breweries that are exploring fruit-flavored
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
