Kentucky’s bourbon industry won a legislative victory with a plan for a 20-year phase-out of the barrel tax. The Senate voted 23 to 14 on the final day of the legislative session to approve the House bill. Jack Mazurak is governmental and regulatory affairs director for the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. He told lawmakers the continuation of the per-barrel tax would slow growth. Mazurak said some of the 68 counties that currently don’t have distilleries would like, quote, “a bite of the apple.”
“A lot of them want the jobs, the tourism, the infrastructure, the development, especially those that are too painfully close to the coal industry’s collapse,” said Mazurak.
