Happy Easter and Happy Passover from the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA)!
 
Tariffs and National Beer Day
 
April 7th is the 14th anniversary of National Beer Day. The annual holiday began in 2009 to commemorate the date in the Cullen-Harrison Act of 1933 that legalized the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent. Upon signing the legislation, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously commented that he thought “this would be a good time for a beer.” Unfortunately, almost a century later, this year is not a good time for American beer drinkers as they continue to pay the price for a misguided trade war.  In March 2018, former President Donald Trump utilized his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and sections 301-310 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 10 percent tariff on aluminum and 25 percent tariff on steel imports from certain countries. After signing the deal, Trump declared that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”  He was wrong. Unfortunately, for American beer manufacturers, these tariffs have been disastrous. American craft brewers have been disproportionately impacted by the tariffs as aluminum cans “make up around 60 percent of the independent craft packaged volume.”
 
Worse, a major lack of oversight has allowed aluminum manufacturers to take advantage of the tariffs, with some going as far as imposing the tariff on end-users for domestic aluminum products. One analysis found that one year after the tariffs went into effect, U.S. aluminum and smelting mills were charging “end-users a tariff-paid price as if the entire product … consisted of imported primary aluminum.” The analysis found that the US beverage industry had paid approximately $250 million in Section 232 aluminum tariffs from March to December 2018, while the US government only received around $50 million. Yet, US smelters received nearly $27 million and rolling mills an estimated $173 million by charging the tariff price.  A March 2023 report from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found that “US importers bore almost the entire burden” of the tariffs imposed. The senior vice president for international policy at the US Chamber of Commerce remarked that it was “hardly news that tariffs are a tax paid by American families and companies.” The president of the Beer Institute responded stating that the “ITC report confirms what brewers have known since March 2018: Section 232 tariffs on aluminum punish American job creators” and essentially have merely increased costs which have been shifted down upon the consumer, while failing “to create the significant number of jobs that were promised.”
 
Similar to other consumer goods, beer prices have been on the rise. Between November 2021 and November 2022 (according to Moody’s), the average price of beer in America increased by eight percent. Further, prices increased by 20 percent for several major beers including Bud Light, Miller Lite, Yuengling Lager, and Coors Light. American craft breweries have been hit particularly hard by both aluminum tariffs and the increases in prices of goods used to produce their beers. Wheat, barley, rice, malt, aluminum, and fuel are all needed to make any beer and the cost of these goods has increased by 62 percent in the past two years. For craft brewers, the biggest production costs include energy, CO2, and malted barley. One craft brewing company estimated they experienced a 23 percent increase in malted barley costs and a 54 percent increase in their annual electricity costs. These terrible trade tariffs have disproportionately impacted American manufacturers while deeply impacting American beer drinkers. It is appalling that for five consecutive National Beer Days (amid an inflation crisis), brewskis have been subject to arbitrarily-higher aluminum costs. It is long overdue to repeal aluminum tariffs.

 
BLOGS:
   
Monday: Consumers and Small Businesses Will Be Losers of Florida’s Privacy Bill
 
Tuesday: TPA Endorses Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act
   
Wednesday: TPA Led Coalition Sends Letter to White House, HHS, and CMS on Surprise Medical Billing
 
Thursday: Three Takeaways from latest USPS Report Card
   

 
MEDIA:
 
March 31, 2023:  The American Spectator ran TPA’s op-ed, “Consumers Face Double Whammy of Stamp Fraud and Postal Service Snooping.”
 
April 3, 2023:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the government banning TikTok.
 
April 4, 2023: TPA was mentioned in a Financial Regulation News story titled, “Sen. Lankford sponsors bill to allow businesses to fully expense new investments.”
 
April 3, 2023:  TPA was mentioned in an Inside Sources piece titled, “House Oversight Chair Wants Answers from FDA on Politicization of Vape Regs.”
 
April 5, 2023:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story, “OIG Report: City employee used MONSE's Amazon account to buy personal items, avoid taxes.”
 
April 5, 2023:  The Nashua Telegraph (Hudson, NH) ran TPA’s op-ed, “It’s time to move past non-existent youth vaping epidemic.”
 
April 5, 2023: The Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA) ran TPA’s op-ed, “It’s time to move past non-existent youth vaping epidemic.”
 
April 5, 2023: The Washington Times ran TPA’s op-ed, “Let’s move past nonexistent youth vaping epidemic.”
 
April 6, 2023:  I appeared on 55KRC Radio (Cincinnati, Ohio) to talk about Pharmacy Benefit Managers and surprise medical billing.
 
April 6, 2023:   I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about social security and Big Tech.
 
April 6, 2023:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about beer taxes and tariffs.
 

 Have a great weekend!