Nearly half the cost of brewing at the fledgling Henniker Brewing Co. goes toward state and federal taxes, founder Dave Currier said.

But Rep. Annie Kuster has recently been touring local breweries like Currier’s and touting legislation that could cut federal excise taxes in half for small breweries in their first years of business.

“What I hope to do is create jobs and economic development by giving these small brewers the opportunity to compete,” Kuster said in a phone interview.

The Small BREW Act would drop the federal excise tax from $7 to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels for small breweries that produce less than 6 million barrels per year.

“The idea behind that is to help them get started, get established, get known with the local brand,” Kuster said.

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