Double the taxes, double the health?

Two weeks ago, we covered a meta-analysis of 50 studies indicating that doubling the alcohol tax would reduce alcohol-related mortality by 35 percent. At Monday’s Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, the very same publication was referenced by Alexander C. Wagenaar, Ph.D., in support of a tax increase to boost public health. "This is a policy that applies at the population level. It’s not just for the high-risk group, it’s not only for the people that get into treatment. When a tax change is implemented, it changes the environment slightly across the entire population such that there’s a reduction in drinking, and that effect ripples across these whole sets of alcohol-related outcomes," says Dr. Wagenaar, whose previous health policy studies are credited with helping to set the nationwide legal drinking age at 21.

ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, however, is less certain that the tax will boost public health. She reiterates that people who “abuse alcohol habitually will not be deterred by this alcohol tax increase.” However, one of our esteemed Trustees has a different opinion on this topic: See Dr. Nigel Bark’s comments from October.