Push on to help lower taxes for sparkling cider
KINDERHOOK — A tax on cideries when their products reach a certain carbonation level is limiting the production of sparkling cider, according to local producers and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who plans to reintroduce a measure to address the issue.
In an event Wednesday, owners of Nine Pin Cider, Samascott Orchards and state Assemblywoman Didi Barrett joined Schumer in pushing for the Bubble Tax Modernization Act of 2024, a version of which was introduced earlier this year, but stalled in committee. The earlier version, which was not taken up for a vote in the House Ways and Means Committee, would subject both mead and low-alcohol wine to the same tax rate. Schumer’s proposal for the Senate is yet to be introduced.
Currently, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau classifies cider with over 0.392 grams of carbon dioxide as “sparkling wine,” increasing taxes by about 1,400 percent compared to most ciders. Federal regulators tax hard apple and pear ciders at 23 cents per gallon and other fruit ciders at $1.07 per gallon, while drinks in the sparkling wine tax bracket are taxed at $3.40 per gallon.
“I will be getting this bill introduced into the Senate quickly and as majority leader I have a bit of say as to what bills get to the floor and get the votes to pass,” Schumer told reporters, highlighting his role in introducing a Senate version of the CIDER Act in 2013. Signed into law in 2015 by President Barack Obama, it lowered taxes on cider.
During Wednesday’s event, Schumer stood beside an apple press at Kinderhook’s Samascott Orchards, which supplies apples for Nine Pin Cider’s most popular product: its sparkling apple ciders. Alejandro del Peral, Nine Pin’s cofounder, said customers enjoy its “bubbly beverages.”
“As things stand today, ciders are taxed at an unreasonably high amount, which makes producing beverages with the bubble that the consumers expect kind of cost-prohibitive for us,” del Peral said, adding that fruit beer, hard seltzer and premixed carbonated cocktails are
not taxed based on carbonation levels.
Ben Calvi, an American Cider Association board member, said the current tax rate has limited innovation and growth in the cider industry, comparing it to the recent popularity of hard seltzers like Truly and White Claw.
“It’s taken cider 200 years to get to where we are today,” Calvi said.
Last spring, freezing temperatures damaged or destroyed fruit in Capital Region orchards, harming buds and causing deformities in otherwise edible apples. The issue worsened during the fall harvest season, as rainy weekends led to significant revenue losses due to fewer visitors.
Jake Samascott, an owner of Samascott Orchards, told the Times Union that Schumer’s measure and the growth of cideries like Nine Pin would help apple farmers sell their products and overcome unfavorable weather conditions.
“If we’re selling an apple, it needs to be pretty perfect, no marks on it, the right size, the right color,” Samascott said. “This makes a market for apples that are imperfect and might not have an outlet otherwise.”