USA, CT: Connecticut craft brewers getting a tax break

The craft beer industry in Connecticut generated $3 billion in economic activity last year. Now the state is giving the growing industry a tax break, Thehour.com reported on July 14.

Gov. Ned Lamont chose to visit Thomas Hooker Brewery, located in a warehouse in Bloomfield, Wednesday, July 14 to highlight a 16.7 percent tax reduction for Connecticut brewers included in the new state budget, which went into effect July 1.

The drop from 23 cents per gallon to 19 cents puts Connecticut more in line with excise tax rates in other states such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Commissioner of the Department of Revenue Services Mark Boughton said.

While the change will cost the state “a little more in terms of tax revenue,” Lamont said, it will help spur further economic growth in the industry.

Thomas Hooker, which employs 50 workers, has plans to soon open a new events venue called Thomas Hooker Live in the North Armory of the former Colt firearms complex in Hartford.

Connecticut is home to more than 120 craft breweries with “dozens more in the hopper,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said. The industry employs almost 18,000 people across the state.

Asked whether the tax break jives with the message from public health officials warning of an increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic, Lamont evoked the brewery’s namesake, a leader in the Puritan movement.

“Thomas Hooker said drinking is OK but do it responsibly,” the governor said.

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