According to www.alcoholalert.com, alcohol related deaths are going down. However, at the end of 2008, there were still over 13,000 alcohol related fatalities, which is not acceptable. Raising the taxes on alcohol can reduce the alcohol related deaths each year as well. Many places, alcohol can be bought for next to nothing and the tax doesn’t seem to affect many people. However, there are a percentage of people that would be affected by raising the taxes. This article will point out a couple ways that raising the taxes on alcohol could reduce the alcohol related deaths each year.
1) The more expensive alcohol is, the harder it is to buy it. Cigarettes used to be a dollar a pack and now they are around four or five dollars a pack, and that has forced some people to stop smoking. Alcohol has seen a small increase, but it still cheap enough for many people to get a hold of. Taxing an item can affect people’s pocket and in some cases cause them to stop their habit.
2) Realistically, most people don’t stop a habit because of the tax. If alcohol was taxed, and people couldn’t afford to drink, they would not quit, but instead find a way to scheme money or even turn to illegal activities to obtain money. A person’s habit, especially when it is physically addictive, is not easy to break and the alternative to paying for it honestly is paying for it illegally. Taxing of alcohol is a good idea and some people would stop drinking due to the increase in price, but those people are probably not the addicts. Alcohol related deaths would still be reduced because if an alcoholic goes to jail for stealing so they can get alcohol, the chances are far greater to not have any alcohol related deaths in jail than if they were on the street.
3) Liquor stores could close if they are not making the profit they should be. If an area doesn’t have a liquor store, that is one less alcohol related death enabler to worry about. Taxes don’t just affect the buyer, but also the seller and in this case, this is a positive affect on the lives of people.
Raising the taxes on alcohol won’t solve the problem of alcohol related deaths. but it will help and something is always better than nothing.