Federal Alcohol Administration Act and Internal Revenue Code—Alcohol Excise Taxes

Abstract

The prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors in the United States, by the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution, came to an end with the ratification of the twenty-first amendment by the states on December 5, 1933. Quickly, laws had to be repealed, amended or drawn up to control production and distribution of alcoholic beverages and to assure the collection of taxes on such products. Thus, on August 29, 1935, the Congress passed the Federal Alcohol Administration Act “To further protect the revenue derived from distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages, to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, and enforce the postal laws with respect thereto, to enforce the twenty-first amendment, and for other purposes.”