Australian breweries push for tax break similar to wine industry

Granting Australian breweries a tax break similar to the wine industry would help the domestic market leap forward and create thousands of new jobs.

Small beer brewers in Australia are pushing for a tax break similar to their wine-sipping cousins, saying their industry is perfectly poised to pour new jobs into a post-pandemic economy.

Independent Brewers Association chair and founder of Sydney-based Wayward Brewing Co. Peter Philip said changing the amount small brewers could claim back could also see an “Australian-owned” beer industry spring forward in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

With major beer producers Lion and Carlton & United Breweries now owned by Japanese parent companies, Mr Philip said an opportunity presented to help a domestic market leap forward and create thousands of new jobs.

Wayward Brewing boss Peter Philip and brewery worker Siobhan Moulay. Picture: David Swift.

“On a personal level it irks me that much of the money people are spending on beer is going to foreign multinationals,” Mr Philip told The Daily Telegraph.

“We’re really trying to rebuild our Australian-owned beer industry – the industry as it is now is made up of foreign multinationals, so we’re trying to rebuild our own.”

The IBA are pushing the federal government to raise their small brewers’ refund scheme from $100,000 to $350,000 – the same amount small wine producers can claim.

Wayward Brewing boss Peter Philip. Picture: David Swift.

With roughly 35 per cent of the cost of producing a litre of beer going to tax, Mr Philip said raising the amount small brewers’ could claim back would also help create thousands of jobs.

And Mr Philip added notions brewing was limited to Inner West city-slickers was off the mark, with two-thirds of the association’s membership based in rural and regional areas.

That is another reason, he says, the industry can be the “poster child” for economic recovery post-pandemic.

“We’re the perfect industry for it, we’re an industry of small businesses,” he said, adding their vision was for there to “be a small brewery in every town in Australia”.

Mr Philip said changing the tax regime would cost the government $17m – but would help create 7000 new jobs.

And he’s well-placed to know – since founding Camperdown-based Wayward Brewing Co. by himself in 2012, he now employs 28 people, with production set to double next year.

Mr Philip presented the case for change to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at Parliament House last month.

While the Treasurer’s office declined to comment on the push ahead of the federal budget being released, Mr Philip said he hoped the changes would be taken on board.

“We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for the government to invest in the building of a brand-new Australian industry,” he said.