Discovering the impact of alcohol taxes

Discovering the impact of alcohol taxes

Research shows that increasing alcohol taxes decreases excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. Now, that decrease can be modeled with an interactive tool developed by a team of researchers across the country, including Alexander C. Wagenaar, Ph.D., a professor of health outcomes and policy; Stephanie Staras, Ph.D., MSPH, an assistant professor of health outcomes and policy; and Melvin D. Livingston III, Ph.D., an assistant research scientist. These department of health outcomes and policy faculty members collaborated with scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Boston Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago in the creation of a web-based tool that estimates how much alcohol tax increases would save in reduced alcohol harms as well as in tax dollars the government spends on alcohol-related costs, such as police responses to car crashes, vandalism, emergency department treatments not covered by private insurance, etc. In addition, the tool models potential new jobs from alcohol tax increases in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., as well as the cost for consumers, depending on their drinking habits. Check out different scenarios for Florida at http://www.camy.org/action/taxes/taxtool. — Elizabeth Hillaker Downs