States Beware: RTD Tax Cuts Could Cut Tax Revenues

Dear Client:  As several states consider creating special excise tax carve-outs to distinguish spirits-based canned cocktails with their full-proof liquors -- to be more in line with malt-based seltzers -- Maryland was no exception. Last year the state legislature considered a bill which would lower the excise tax rate of lower ABV liquor-based RTDs in a can to 40 cents a gallon.  That bill never made it out of committee. But the legislature asked the Maryland Alcohol and Tobacco Commission