Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan 22;9(1):e80936.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080936. eCollection 2014.

Minimum pricing of alcohol versus volumetric taxation: which policy will reduce heavy consumption without adversely affecting light and moderate consumers?

Anurag Sharma  1 , Brian Vandenberg  2 , Bruce Hollingsworth  3
Affiliations

Minimum pricing of alcohol versus volumetric taxation: which policy will reduce heavy consumption without adversely affecting light and moderate consumers?

Anurag Sharma et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: We estimate the effect on light, moderate and heavy consumers of alcohol from implementing a minimum unit price for alcohol (MUP) compared with a uniform volumetric tax.

Methods: We analyse scanner data from a panel survey of demographically representative households (n = 885) collected over a one-year period (24 Jan 2010-22 Jan 2011) in the state of Victoria, Australia, which includes detailed records of each household's off-trade alcohol purchasing.

Findings: The heaviest consumers (3% of the sample) currently purchase 20% of the total litres of alcohol (LALs), are more likely to purchase cask wine and full strength beer, and pay significantly less on average per standard drink compared to the lightest consumers (A$1.31 [95% CI 1.20-1.41] compared to $2.21 [95% CI 2.10-2.31]). Applying a MUP of A$1 per standard drink has a greater effect on reducing the mean annual volume of alcohol purchased by the heaviest consumers of wine (15.78 LALs [95% CI 14.86-16.69]) and beer (1.85 LALs [95% CI 1.64-2.05]) compared to a uniform volumetric tax (9.56 LALs [95% CI 9.10-10.01] and 0.49 LALs [95% CI 0.46-0.41], respectively). A MUP results in smaller increases in the annual cost for the heaviest consumers of wine ($393.60 [95% CI 374.19-413.00]) and beer ($108.26 [95% CI 94.76-121.75]), compared to a uniform volumetric tax ($552.46 [95% CI 530.55-574.36] and $163.92 [95% CI 152.79-175.03], respectively). Both a MUP and uniform volumetric tax have little effect on changing the annual cost of wine and beer for light and moderate consumers, and likewise little effect upon their purchasing.

Conclusions: While both a MUP and a uniform volumetric tax have potential to reduce heavy consumption of wine and beer without adversely affecting light and moderate consumers, a MUP offers the potential to achieve greater reductions in heavy consumption at a lower overall annual cost to consumers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Mean retail price paid (A$) per standard drink for selected alcohol product types, 1st and 5th consumption quintiles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, Danaei G, Shibuya K, et al. (2012) A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990—2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet 380 9859: 2224–2260. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson P, Chisholm D, Fuhr DC (2009) Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. The Lancet 373: 2234–46. - PubMed
    1. Chikritzhs T, Stockwell T, Pascal R (2005) The impact of the Northern Territory's Living With Alcohol program, 1992–2002: revisiting the evaluation. Addiction 100: 1625–1636. - PubMed
    1. Carragher N, Chalmers J (2011) What are the options? Pricing and taxation policy reforms to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in Australia. Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
    1. Sornpaisarn B, Shield KD, Rehm J (2012) Alcohol taxation policy in Thailand: implications for other low- to middle-income countries. Addiction 107: 1372–1384. - PubMed

Publication types