Dear Senator/Congressman or Congresswoman (their name),

As a winery and small, family-owned business in your district, we strongly urge you to cosponsor and support the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (H.R. 1175), introduced by Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mike Kelly (R-PA). A two-year version of the bill was passed and signed into law as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The new tax credits enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will go away on December 31 of this year if H.R. 1175 is not passed. This could be potentially damaging to the new jobs and investments that wineries in our state have made with their savings.

Today there are more than 9,000 wineries spread across all fifty states.  The overwhelming majority of these are small, family-owned businesses that bring incredible economic benefit to their agricultural communities wherever they are located.  Wine is one of agriculture’s greatest value-added products and generates substantial benefits in the form of investments, jobs, tax revenue, and significant support for local businesses through wine tourism.  In total, the American wine industry has an annual economic impact on the U.S. economy of over $220 billion.

Wineries are also some of the most heavily taxed and regulated businesses in the country, and this legislation will continue to provide meaningful relief from some of these burdens.   We have worked closely with the authors of the bill to ensure that key provisions relating to wine are included and will focus benefits primarily on small and medium-sized producers, many of which were started in the last few years.  The provisions relating to wine will reduce the tax burden on producers, reduce costly regulatory restrictions, and allow for the innovation of new products.

We urge you to cosponsor this legislation and support local businesses in your district and across our state.    

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let me know if you will sign on.

Sincerely,

(your name)

We also encourage you to email a “Thank You!” note to the Senators  who have already signed on if they represent your state, and to let WineAmerica know if you have asked those above to sign on or thanked current cosponsors for doing so in order that we may keep track on this end.