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Canadian beer drinkers pay an average of five times as much tax as Americans when they buy a two-four of cans, a new report from Beer Canada shows.

Luke Harford, president of Beer Canada, said most brew drinkers would be aware that they are charged more north of the border, but not how much more because the taxes are hidden in the purchase price.

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“Where a Canadian consumer is paying $20 in tax on a case of beer, their U.S. neighbour is paying $4,” Harford said. “A lot of that is driven by the provinces … the provincial level of taxes are 13 times greater than state level taxes.”

Ontario Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne pulls a beer at a campaign event in Sudbury, Ontario on Tuesday May 27, 2014.

The Ontario government has a basic beer tax that goes up every year, and Ottawa introduced a similar escalator tax in 2017.

And when one tax goes up, it triggers an increase in other taxes like HST, Harford said.

“On average, 47% of the price of beer – and that’s just the commodity-specific tax on beer – 47% of the price of a case of beer in this country is tax,” he said. “It’s almost half. It’s just too much and brewers are saying, ‘Enough is enough.’”