Igor Volsky brings some wonkitude to the subject of increased taxation of alcoholic beverages, including this important analysis from the Center for Science in the Public Interest showing how narrow the incidence would be:
- 35 percent of adults pay nothing at all.
- 80 percent of drinkers pay at most $26.50 per year, about 7¢ per day.
- Half of beer drinkers pay at most a penny a day.
- The heaviest drinkers (top 5%), who average some 11 beers per day, pay on average $215 a year, about 60¢ per day.
And needless to say, if the people drinking at that top-end of the spectrum are thereby encouraged to drink somewhat less, that’s probably a good thing. I don’t think you need to be much of a scold or a puritan to think that’s excessive behavior.
The bad news about increased alcohol taxes is just that you can’t actually raise enough money to finance health care this way. Apparently you could raise about $28 billion, and you’d also save some money on health and law enforcement expenditures. That’s nothing to sneer at, but it’s probably not enough. Still, it’s really nothing to sneer at and could play a valuable role in financing vital health care reforms.
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