BURLINGTON – Vermont’s nearly three-month-old beverage tax has hit some hiccups with both consumers and retailers.

VTDigger.org reports that beverages that should not be taxed under the new law are in fact including the 6% sales tax, while retailers are finding it difficult to follow the state’s new guidelines. 

Jim Harrison, president of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association, said the Legislature’s definition of a taxable beverage is difficult to administer.

Harrison told NACS Daily that some retailers have been contacted by the state Tax Department and quickly checked to make sure they are taxing beverages correctly. However, the problem comes with “a somewhat unclear definition where most iced teas are taxable—flavored, regular and diet—but not the ones that say unsweetened. Club soda is not a soft drink under the definition. Regular V-8 is not taxable, but V-8 Splash or Fusion is taxable. We could go on. It is confusing to customers as well as merchants, but we will continue working to get it right.”

According to Candace Morgan, policy director at the Department of Taxes, the agency has received a steady stream of comments from Vermonters reporting instances where the new tax has been misapplied. “We’ve really been trying to be proactive and follow up with businesses directly after we are alerted to these issues,” she told VTDigger.org.

State Sen. Dick Mazza, a fierce opponent of beverage tax and owner of a convenience store in Colchester, said he has reviewed the taxable guidelines at least a dozen times with his c-store employees. “It’s the most confusing tax policy I have ever come across in all my years in business,” he told the news source.