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To: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury

Protect small cider producers

Campaign to Save Local Pubs

Thanks to your support we were able to hand in a petition with over 26,000 signatures urging the Government to back small cider producers. On 8th July 2015, the Government responded in its Budget. The Chancellor has announced that the Government will retain the current duty exemption for small cider producers.

This is excellent news for real cider drinkers and small producers alike. CAMRA is delighted with the Government’s commitment and will now be working hard to ensure that they can keep the promise with a legal exemption in the EU Directive.

Thank you for making this a campaign win!

We call on the UK Government to continue to support the cider sector and consumer choice by rejecting the EU’s demand that a new tax of up to £2,700 is imposed on very small cider producers.

The European Union (EU) is proposing to ban the UK’s small cider producer duty exemption. This exemption supports very small cider makers, such as hobbyists or farm-gate producers, for whom such small scale production is an integral part of rural culture.

The proposed action would see very small cider producers landed with a tax bill of up to £2,700 each and every year. We call on the Government to reject the EU’s request and put UK cider producers and consumers first.

Why is this important?

CAMRA fully supports the production and availability of real ciders and perries. In many cases the proposed action would make small scale cider production uneconomic. This is wholly disproportionate given that a small producer selling up to 33 pints a day has no capacity to affect EU trade to any meaningful degree.

The case for rejecting the request by the EU to tax small cider producers:

- Someone producing less than 70hl (12,000 pints) will generally be making less than £10,000 a year in sales. This means the tax exemption only applies to very small businesses, such as hobbyists or farm-gate producers. If a duty were to be levied on these producers it would make their operations uneconomic and lead to wide-spread closure.

- 80% of Britain’s 500+ cider makers are currently small producers. A tax will severely impact on consumer choice and will cause irreparable damage to one of the nation’s most historic industries.

- An exemption from this duty is essential to supporting the growth of a vibrant but still small cider and perry market.

- A tax charge of up to £2,700 would drive many small cider producers out of business costing jobs, harming the countryside and dramatically reducing consumer choice.

Partner

Updates

2015-03-11 09:09:03 +0000

10 signatures reached