{"title":"Do the Effects of Alcohol Excise Taxes Differ by Drinking Level and by Income Level?","authors":"Henry Saffer, Markus Gehrsitz, Michael Grossman","doi":"10.1086/732146","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We study the effect of excise alcohol taxes on ethanol consumption and prices paid for alcohol purchases. For our analysis, we exploit an unexpected and large increase in excise taxes that substantially raised alcohol prices in the state of Illinois in 2009. We combine rich, nationally representative household-level data on alcohol purchases with a synthetic control approach that allows us to compare prices paid and purchasing behavior in Illinois with the same behaviors in a weighted set of control states. We show that heavy and moderate drinkers reduced their ethanol consumption by a similar magnitude, thus casting doubt on the notion that heavy drinkers are less responsive to higher alcohol taxes. We also find similar responses for low and high-income households but document that low-income households pay more for ethanol after tax increases, thus supporting concerns about the regressive nature of alcohol taxes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18983,"journal":{"name":"National Tax Journal","volume":"77 4","pages":"787-811"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11867623/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"National Tax Journal","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/732146","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
We study the effect of excise alcohol taxes on ethanol consumption and prices paid for alcohol purchases. For our analysis, we exploit an unexpected and large increase in excise taxes that substantially raised alcohol prices in the state of Illinois in 2009. We combine rich, nationally representative household-level data on alcohol purchases with a synthetic control approach that allows us to compare prices paid and purchasing behavior in Illinois with the same behaviors in a weighted set of control states. We show that heavy and moderate drinkers reduced their ethanol consumption by a similar magnitude, thus casting doubt on the notion that heavy drinkers are less responsive to higher alcohol taxes. We also find similar responses for low and high-income households but document that low-income households pay more for ethanol after tax increases, thus supporting concerns about the regressive nature of alcohol taxes.
期刊介绍：
The goal of the National Tax Journal (NTJ) is to encourage and disseminate high quality original research on governmental tax and expenditure policies. Articles published in the regular March, June and September issues of the journal, as well as articles accepted for publication in special issues of the journal, are subject to professional peer review and include economic, theoretical, and empirical analyses of tax and expenditure issues with an emphasis on policy implications. The NTJ has been published quarterly since 1948 under the auspices of the National Tax Association (NTA). Most issues include an NTJ Forum, which consists of invited papers by leading scholars that examine in depth a single current tax or expenditure policy issue. The December issue is devoted to publishing papers presented at the NTA’s annual Spring Symposium; the articles in the December issue generally are not subject to peer review.
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