Increasing alcohol beverage taxes is recommended to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms

Abstract: 

Excessive use of alcohol is the third-leading cause of preventable death in the nation, and it presents a public health challenge that is being approached from many directions. The serious toll that alcohol related injuries and disease impose on the population of the U.S. led the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (Task Force) to include reduction of excessive alcohol consumption and related harms as a priority topic in its earliest planning sessions. The Task Force has studied and made recommendations on ways to reduce alcohol-impaired driving and excessive alcohol consumption, including interventions to regulate alcohol outlet density, maintain limits on the days on which and the hours in which alcohol can be sold, enhance enforcement of laws prohibiting sales to minors, and increase taxes on alcoholic beverages. A detailed report on the systematic review of the effectiveness of increasing alcohol taxes can be found in the accompanying article in this issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. See: Elder, R. W., Lawrence, B., Ferguson, A., Naimi, T. S., Brewer, R. D., Chattopadhyay, S. K., Toomey, T. L., & Fielding, J. E. (2010). The effectiveness of tax policy interventions for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. Journal of Preventative Medicine, 38(2), 217-229.