Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) introduced legislation on Thursday that would end the 158-year-old federal ban on the home distillation of spirits, allowing adults 21-years-old and older to distill their own spirits at home in small quantities for personal use.
Harshbarger’s bill, the Freedom to Home Distill Act, would amend Section 5001 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt home distilleries from the federal excise tax on spirits and create limits on the amount of distilled spirits adults would be able to produce.
The bill would also prohibit people from selling spirits distilled at home. The bill would also only apply to federal law.
Harshbarger’s bill defines a “home distillery establishment” as either a person’s private home, or “shed, yard,” or an enclosure that is “connected with such dwelling house.”
“It makes no sense that Americans can legally make beer and wine at home for personal consumption, but not a small batch of spirits,” Harshbarger said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “Distilling has deep roots in Tennessee and across Appalachia, tied to self-reliance and craftmanship that go back generations.”
Harshbarger added that it is “long past time we modernize this outdated federal law.”
Under Harshbarger’s bill, households with one adult would be able to produce ten proof gallons of distilled spirits per calendar year, while homes with two or more adults would be able to produce 20 proof gallons of distilled spirits per calendar year.
Harshbarger’s bill comes after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in April that the federal government’s ban on home distillation was unconstitutional, with Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Edith Hollan Jones arguing “the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place,” Reuters reported at the time:
They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.
The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place, unlike laws that regulated the manufacture and labeling of distilled spirits on which the government could collect taxes.
More than a week after the ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling labeling the federal government’s ban on home distillation as a “necessary and proper means” for the government to collect the “federal excise tax on distilled spirits,” Reuters reported.
Harshbarger’s bill also comes as the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) and the Goldwater Institute have called for the Supreme Court to intervene and resolve the matter regarding the federal government’s ban on home distillation.
In a press release from August 20, the NTUF shared that NTUF’s Taxpayer Defense Center “filed an amicus curiae” brief requesting that the Supreme Court intervene on the split between the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the federal ban on home distillation.
Eric “Digger” Manes, who starred on Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners, shared in a statement that “it would be an understatement to say that it was an honor to be involved in authoring” the legislation from Harshbarger.
Manes added that he hopes “everyone who reads this still contact their federal representatives, regardless of whether they intend to pursue the hobby themselves, and request their support for this bill.”
“It would be an understatement to say that it was an honor to be involved in authoring the Freedom to Home Distill Act,” Manes said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “When I initially approached Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger to explore the possibility of introducing a bill that would allow hobby distillers to engage in their craft without the fear of law enforcement intervention, it was a monumental step.”
Manes continued to praise Harshbarger for having “dedicated three years of research and effort to the development of this bill,” adding that “the moonshine community cannot express its gratitude enough to Representative Diana Harshbarger.”
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