Several states in the USA protect their own breweries and the big national breweries at the same time, by charging out-of-state breweries a hefty fee for a YEARLY import license. Such an import license may cost $ 1,500 or more per brewery, or $ 150 per brand. Now that we have more brewers and more imports in the USA, you would think that these fees will be lowered, but the contrary is true: they rise. Not with a small percentage, but they double or triple! 15 years ago, you had about 20 different beers available, now you have over a thousand beers. This represents a big income opportunity for some states. A cost of $ 1,500 means that the brewer or importer must at least sell 500 cases in that State per year to recoup the cost of the license. That’s already a respectable amount of beer, for smaller and imported brands.

It is easy and cowardly for states to charge out-of-state folks. These people can’t vote in the state. And their own constituents don’t even know about this hidden tax. Some states are more “free-trade” oriented, and show more solidarity with the rest of the nation: they don’t charge this kind of fees. Conclusion: such a hidden tax is unfair for the smaller brewers and importers, because it means extra costs, and maybe a cut off from certain markets. This tax creates an advantage for the larger national brewers. It is also unfair for the local citizens, because the state deprives them from some good beers, that they might want to buy and drink.

This is quite a difference from the new European Community, where every product that is accepted by one country can be sold, without extra taxes or other “red-tape” and “paperwork”, in all the other States of the Community. What an advantage for Anheuser-Busch and Miller, who are focusing on the European market now, versus the European brewers, who want to sell in the USA. The European brewer must first deal with the BATF on the Federal Level in the USA and then with the Liquor Control Board of each of every State. That’s 51 times taxes and “red tape”.

Free trade in the USA? Forget it: not for beer! The next trade war between Europe and the USA may be about beer.

Newsletter July 1998