Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T18:57:49.730Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Consumer Taxes on Alcohol: An International Comparison over Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2020

Kym Anderson
Kym Anderson*
Affiliation:
School of Economics, University of Adelaide, AdelaideSA5005, Australia, and Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, CanberraACT; e-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rates of alcohol taxation, and the types of tax instruments used, vary enormously between countries and have tended to rise in recent times. Within each country, they also vary between beverages and often between qualities and styles of each beverage. This article computes consumer tax equivalents in U.S. dollars per litre of alcohol and as percentages of wholesale prices of representative beverages for 42 high- and middle-income countries. That allows comparisons across countries of taxes not just for each product on its own, but also relative to those for other alcoholic beverages. The wide dispersion of rates and differences in tax instruments across countries and products suggest differing strengths of health and welfare lobbyists and industry groups in influencing government decision-making. (JEL Classifications: D12, D62, E62, H23, I18, P46)

Keywords

alcohol import tariffsconsumer tax equivalentsexcise taxes
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 42 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I thank Admasu Maruta for assistance with data compilation, the journal referees for helpful comments, and to Wine Australia for research funding under Project Number UA 1803-3.1.

References

Alston, J. M., Fuller, K., Lapsley, J. T., Soleas, G., and Tumber, K. (2015). Splendide mendax: False label claims about the high and rising alcohol content of wine. Journal of Wine Economics, 10(3), 275–313.10.1017/jwe.2015.33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K. (2010). Excise and import taxes on wine versus beer and spirits: An International Comparison. Economic Papers, 29(2), 215–228.10.1111/j.1759-3441.2010.00064.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K. (2014). Excise taxes on wines, beers and spirits: An updated international comparison. American Association of Wine Economists, Working Paper No. 170, October. Available from https://www.wine-economics.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/AAWE_WP170.pdf.Google Scholar
Anderson, K. (with the assistance of Aryal, N. R.) (2015). Growth and Cycles in Australia's Wine Industry: A Statistical Compendium, 1843 to 2013. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, K., Meloni, G., and Swinnen, J. (2018). Global alcohol markets: Evolving consumption patterns, regulations and industrial organizations. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 10 (October), 105–132.10.1146/annurev-resource-100517-023331CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K., and Nelgen, S. (2011). Global Wine Markets, 1961 to 2009: A Statistical Compendium. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, K., Nelgen, S., and Pinilla, V. (2017). Global Wine Markets, 1860 to 2016: A Statistical Compendium. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.10.20851/global-wine-marketsCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxter, R. (2019). Wine and Health: Making Sense of the New Science and What it Means for Wine Lovers. San Francisco: Board and Bench Publishing.Google Scholar
Britten-Jones, M., Nettle, R. S. and Anderson, K. (1987). On optimal second-best trade intervention in the presence of a domestic divergence. Australian Economic Papers, 26(49), 332–336.10.1111/j.1467-8454.1987.tb00513.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cockx, L., Meloni, G., and Swinnen, J. (2019). The water of life and death: A brief economic history of spirits. Wine Economics Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Working Paper No. 0319, November. Available from https://www.adelaide.edu.au/wine-econ/pubs/working_papers/WP0319.pdf.Google Scholar
Cockx, L., Meloni, G., and Swinnen, J. (2020). The water of life and death: A brief economic history of spirits. American Association of Wine Economists, Working Paper No. 246, January. Available from https://www.wine-economics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/AAWE_WP246.pdf.Google Scholar
Corden, W. M. (1997). Trade Policy and Economic Welfare (revised edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.10.1093/0198775342.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2008). Excise Duty Tables: Part 1: Alcoholic Beverages. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (2018). Excise Duty Tables: Part 1: Alcoholic Beverages. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (2019). VAT Rates Applied in the Member States of the European Union. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Gallet, C. A. (2007). The demand for alcohol: A meta-analysis of elasticities. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 51(2), 121–135.10.1111/j.1467-8489.2007.00365.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garavaglia, C., and Swinnen, J. (eds.) (2017). Economic Perspectives on Craft Beer: A Revolution in the Global Beer Industry. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Griswold, M., Fullman, N., Hawley, C., Arian, N., et al. (2018). Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2016. The Lancet, 392(10152), 1015–1035. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, J., and Alston, J. (2019). Persistent patterns in the U.S. alcohol market: Looking at the link between demographics and drinking. Journal of Wine Economics, 14(4), 356–364.Google Scholar
Hart, J., and Alston, J. (2020). Evolving consumption patterns in the U.S. alcohol market: Disaggregated spatial analysis. Journal of Wine Economics, 15(1) (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Holmes, A. J., and Anderson, K. (2017). Convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns: New global indicators. Journal of Wine Economics, 12(2), 117–148.10.1017/jwe.2017.15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, H. G., and Anderson, K. (2016). How much does the European Union assist its wine producers? Journal of Wine Economics, 11(2), 289–305.Google Scholar
Kenkel, D. S. (1996). New estimates of the optimal tax on alcohol. Economic Inquiry, 34(4), 296–319.10.1111/j.1465-7295.1996.tb01379.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meloni, G., Anderson, , Deconinck, K., and Swinnen, J. (2019). Wine regulations. Applied Economic Policy and Perspectives, 41(4), 620–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meloni, G., and Swinnen, J. (2013). The political economy of European wine regulations. Journal of Wine Economics, 8(3), 244–284.10.1017/jwe.2013.33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2008). Consumption Tax Trends. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (2018). Consumption Tax Trends. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Pogue, T., and Sgontz, L. (1989). Taxing to control social costs: The case of alcohol. American Economic Review, 79(1), 235–243.Google Scholar
Sassi, F. (ed.) (2015). Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use: Economics and Public Health Policy. Paris: OECD. https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264181069-enCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, P., McLaren, K. R., Wohlgenant, M., and Zhao, X. (2014). Disaggregated econometric estimation of consumer demand response by alcoholic beverage types. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 59(4), 412–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, P., and Zhao, X. (2010). What do the bingers drink? Microeconometric evidence on negative externalities and drinker characteristics of alcohol consumption by beverage types. Economic Papers, 29(2), 229–250.10.1111/j.1759-3441.2010.00066.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinnen, J., and Briski, D. (2017). Beeronomics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank (2019a). WITS database. Accessed May 15 at https://wits.worldbank.org.Google Scholar
World Bank (2019b). World Development Indicators database. Accessed May 15 at https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators.Google Scholar
WTO (2019). Tariff Profiles database. Accessed November 6 at www.wto.org.Google Scholar
Yang, O., Zhao, X., and Srivastava, P. (2016). Binge drinking and antisocial and unlawful behaviours in Australia. Economic Record, 92(297), 222–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar