Manx Brewers Delighted By Excise Duty Cut

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

05 July 2002

Breweries based on the Isle of Man have welcomed recent moves to reduce excise duty payable by smaller companies.

The move to reduce the tax burden on independent breweries which produce 30,000 hectolitres or less (approximately 5.2 million pints) followed the implementation of similar measures by the government of the United Kingdom.

According to the Isle of Man Online news service, the excise duty reduction which took effect in June has been welcomed by the jurisdiction's three small breweries, Bushy's, Heron and Brearly and the Old Laxey Brewing Company.

The IOM Online reported that before the changes, the standard duty payable by the Manx breweries per pint was 24p, compared to rates of equivalent to 4p per pint in France, and sliding scales of duty payment in other countries.

This placed a disproportionately large burden on the Islands' smaller operators, as Andy Corcoran, Deputy Collector at the Treasury's Customs and Excise Division explained to the local newspaper on Thursday:

'For a while the smaller breweries have been at a disadvantage for paying the same amout of duty on a much lower level of overall production. The large overheads already in place on brewing companies were making competing with the larger international breweries which import their beers much more difficult. This will even things out a little for everyone concerned.'

Speaking on behalf of Bushy's Brewery, Martin Brunnschweiler also gave the duty cuts for smaller breweries a thumbs-up, explaining that:

'This change will be good news all around, as the money saved can be used on marketing and promotion to help us compete with the larger companies and will also offset the high cost of shipping our beer to the UK.'

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