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Tennessee Beer Tax Bill Headed to Haslam

A proposal to freeze Tennessee's beer tax is headed to Gov. Bill Haslam for his consideration.

The measure was approved in the House Wednesday. The Senate passed it earlier this week.

Tennessee's beer taxes outstrip any other state's because the bulk of the levy is based on price rather than volume. The more a beer costs, the higher the taxes that must be paid to buy it.

In Tennessee, brewers pay federal and state taxes per 31-gallon barrel, and then a 17 percent tax is charged to wholesalers based on price. Consumers then pay as much as 9.75 percent in sales taxes on top of the previous charges.

The proposal would convert the 17 percent levy to a flat tax in line with the current rate.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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