The value of illegal sales of about 32,000 hectoliters of pure alcohol in the country each year is estimated at $54 million.
Growth in the volume traded on the illicit market has been increasing, with the exception of the period between 2012 and 2013, when it went down by 3.7% due to "... greater government control on ethanol, specifically in control of pharmacy alcohol and counterfeit or adulterated alcohol. "
The new regulation will set the value added tax at 8% and a specific duty of $0.09 per degree of alcohol for beers.
No new regulations are established for the distribution and sale of beer since the law states that this tax only applies to products with 6% abv or more.
"The reform also set a tax of $0.10 per liter on portable ethyl alcohol, whether produced domestically or imported, according to article 42-D," reports Laprensagrafica.com.
The bill sent to Congress will mean stores must have a license in order to sell beer.
El Salvador's current law stipulates the need for an operation license only for the sale of beverages containing more than 6% alcohol by volume meaning that beer is excluded.
With the proposed reforms, companies that sell beer will have to obtain the permit, the cost of which is planned to be $210 per year.
The government has sent the Assembly a proposal to reform the liquor duties levied on beers, wines and spirits that were approved in December 2009.
El Salvador's Treasury Minister, Carlos Cáceres, expects this new proposal to correct errors in the current legislation, which he says is not what was intended.
Laprensagrafica.com reports comments from the minister, "back in December we asked for tariffs corresponding to the alcoholic content of beverages".
Costa Rica will import raw alcohol from Brazil to dehydrate it and re-export it to the US with zero-tariff, in accordance with DR-CAFTA rules.
The Brazilian president's visit to Costa Rica formalized at the government level what was already in the works between businesses in both countries.
In his article in Nacion.com, Juan Fernando Lara S. stated: "Recently, the Agro-Industrial Sugar Cane League (LAICA) obtained a contract from a Brazilian firm that will bring raw alcohol to the country. It will be dehydrated in Punta Morales and then it will be placed as ethanol in the United States."