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BY LUKE HARFORD

A hidden federal beer tax hike hit Canadians this weekend – and that’s no April Fool’s Day joke.

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It’s called an escalator tax and it’s very real.

It’s a set-it-and-forget-it approach to taxing Canadian beer drinkers.

On April 1, beer taxes will be hiked automatically by this hidden tax. They will automatically be hiked “under cover” again next spring, and every April 1, no matter

how stretched Canadian beer drinkers already are.

This hidden escalator tax has been set, but not forgotten. And the more we discuss with Canadians the heavy beer tax burden, the more convinced we are that this hidden tax cannot be allowed to continue.

About 50,000 Canadians have signed the petition to axe this automatic beer tax at Beer Canada’s campaign site www.axethebeertax.ca.

Already, an incredible 47% of the price of beer in Canada is government tax.

So, when you order a pint of beer, almost half the price you pay goes right back to the government in taxes, with no end in sight in terms of how high beer taxes will rise.

Canadian beer taxes are already five times higher than beer taxes in the United States.

And guess what? The U.S. Congress has just recently lowered beer taxes. At the state level, only four of 51 states have hiked beer taxes in recent years. Canada is headed the opposite direction. We now hike beer taxes every single year.

Canadians already work hard and make sacrifices to balance their personal finances. The vast majority certainly do not have a “hidden automatic paycheque escalator” that increases their take-home pay every year.

Which begs the simple question: Is it too much to ask for a tax break on a cold beer?

Canadian consumers will also be the losers if Canada’s beer industry — and we are among the best beer makers in the world — continues to strain and flatten under the weight of an ever-increasing tax burden.

As a country, Canada has several strategic advantages when it comes to beer. Not only do we enjoy beer as consumers, but we are among the world’s best at making beer.