Virginia boasts the lowest beer tax in the Southeast
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If you're thinking about cracking open a couple of beers this weekend, you're in luck: Virginia has one of the lowest brewski taxes in the South.
Driving the news: At $0.26 a gallon, Virginia's overall state tax on beer is lower than half of the states in the country and every other state in the Southeast.
- The taxman in neighboring North Carolina, Maryland and Kentucky charges more than twice that.
How it works: That's per an analysis by the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
- The group calculated total state taxes imposed on off-premises sales of 4.7% ABV beer in 12 oz. containers imported from outside the state.
Between the lines: Some states tax beer differently based on its strength, the size of the container, where it's purchased and other factors.
- Virginia has different tax rates on barrels vs. bottles and then different rates by bottle size, per the state tax code.
- Using a standardized unit allows for better cross-state comparisons.
Context: There's a separate federal tax on beer ranging from about $0.11 per gallon on small U.S. brewers' initial output to about $0.58 per gallon on foreign-made suds, the group notes.
- Some localities also impose taxes on beer, or in Virginia's case, taxes on beer sold in restaurants through the meals tax (hey there, Richmond and Henrico).
What they're saying: Federal and state beer taxes "are often levied on the manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer," write the Tax Foundation's Jacob Macumber-Rosin and Adam Hoffer, with the tax burden "baked into the final retail price."
- "The tax burden accounts for more of the final price of beer than labor and materials combined," the pair add.
The bottom line: Your tallboys may be taxed more than you realize.