[bouldercouncilhotline] Occupation Tax on Brewers, Vintners, and Distillers

[Yates, Bob]

Jane & Cheryl:


In your memo to City Council dated September 28, you requested that City Council members respond to your proposal to begin collecting an annual occupation tax from manufacturers of beer, wine, and distilled spirits in Boulder. According to your memo, while this tax on manufacturers has been on the books for more than 20 years, it has never been collected. I have the following questions:


  1.  How many brewers, vintners, and distillers will have to pay this occupation tax?
  2.  If this occupation tax is collected at the full amount (after your proposed phase-in), how much will the city receive, in the aggregate?
  3.  What is the aggregate city sales tax revenue generated by these manufacturers in each of the last three calendar years?
  4.  What is the city's share, for each of the last three calendar years, of the aggregate property taxes paid by those of the manufacturers who operate their businesses on owned real estate in Boulder?
  5.  If you know, or can estimate, how many people do these manufacturers employ in Boulder, in the aggregate?
  6.  Have you assumed collection of this occupation tax as revenue in the city's 2018 budget?
  7.  Why is the occupation tax on manufacturers three times the amount of the occupation tax on retail liquor stores?
  8.  Do other cities surrounding Boulder (Lafayette, Louisville, Broomfield, Superior, Lyons, Longmont) impose an occupation tax on brewers, vintners, and distillers? If so, how much?
  9.  If a majority on Council wants to abolish this tax, what is the process for doing so?

While I look forward to receiving responses to those questions you can answer without a significant amount of work, I will state now that I believe this tax on our brewers, vintners, and distillers probably should be abolished. Apparently, we have gotten by during the last 20 years without collecting this tax. And there is no inherent unfairness in taxing others in the liquor business, like bars and restaurants, and not taxing manufacturers, which have far less impact on our police services. Indeed, we should be encouraging this industry, which reflects positively on Boulder's image as a place for small businesses engaged in creative endeavors. It would be a sad irony if the home of the nationwide Brewers Association was also the place that imposed a high tax on the art of brewing.

Best,

Bob
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