- Title
- Estimated impacts of alternative Australian alcohol taxation structures on consumption, public health and government revenues
- Creator
- Doran, Christopher M.; Byrnes, Joshua M.; Cobiac, Linda J.; Vandenberg, Brian; Vos, Theo
- Relation
- Medical Journal of Australia Vol. 199, Issue 9, p. 619-622
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja13.10605
- Publisher
- Australasian Medical Publishing Company
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Objective: To examine health and economic implications of modifying taxation of alcohol in Australia. Design and setting: Economic and epidemiological modelling of four scenarios for changing the current taxation of alcohol products, including: replacing the wine equalisation tax (WET) with a volumetric tax; applying an equal tax rate to all beverages equivalent to a 10% increase in the current excise applicable to spirits and ready-to-drink products; applying an excise tax rate that increases exponentially by 3% for every 1% increase in alcohol content above 3.2%; and applying a two-tiered volumetric tax. We used annual sales data and taxation rates for 2010 as the base case. Main outcome measures: Alcohol consumption, taxation revenue, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted and health care costs averted. Results: In 2010, the Australian Government collected close to $8.6 billion from alcohol taxation. All four of the proposed variations to current rates of alcohol excise were shown to save money and more effectively reduce alcohol-related harm compared with the 2010 base case. Abolishing the WET and replacing it with a volumetric tax on wine would increase taxation revenue by $1.3 billion per year, reduce alcohol consumption by 1.3%, save $820 million in health care costs and avert 59 000 DALYs. The alternative scenarios would lead to even higher taxation receipts and greater reductions in alcohol use and harm. Conclusions: Our research findings suggest that any of the proposed variations to current rates of alcohol excise would be a cost-effective health care intervention; they thus reinforce the evidence that taxation is a cost-effective strategy. Of all the scenarios, perhaps the most politically feasible policy option at this point in time is to abolish the WET and replace it with a volumetric tax on wine. This analysis supports the recommendation of the National Preventative Health Taskforce and the Henry Review towards taxing alcohol according to alcohol content.
- Subject
- alcohol taxation; Australia; wine equalisation tax; National Preventative Health Taskforce; Henry Review
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1046775
- Identifier
- uon:14684
- Identifier
- ISSN:1326-5377
- Language
- eng
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