Alcohol taxes may need to rise each year to stop us drinking more
Simulation/modelling: This type of study uses a computer simulation or mathematical model to predict an outcome. The original values put into the model may have come from real-world measurements (eg: past spread of a disease used to model its future spread).
People tend to drink more alcohol as economies and incomes grow, but upping alcohol taxes can help put on the brakes on our growing grog consumption, according to Australian research. The authors say that if alcohol taxes remain constant over the next decade, it is likely that we will be drinking more per person in 2027, compared to 2017. They found that a working rule of thumb to stop this increase in drinking is to increase alcohol tax rates by about half the growth rate of the gross national income. For rich countries, such as Australia, they say this equates to about a 1.0–1.5 per cent annual increase in alcohol taxes.
Journal/conference: Drug and Alcohol Review
Link to research (DOI): 10.1111/dar.13393
Organisation/s: The University of Western Australia
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