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Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Taxes

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  • Parry, Ian W.H.

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Laxminarayan, Ramanan

    (Resources for the Future)

  • West, Sarah E.

Abstract

This paper develops and implements an analytical framework for estimating the optimal levels and welfare effects of alcohol taxes and drunk-driver penalties, accounting for externalities and how policies interact with the broader fiscal system. We find that the fiscal component of the optimal alcohol tax exceeds the externality-correcting component under many parameter scenarios and assumptions about revenue recycling; overall, the optimal tax is anything from three to more than ten times the current tax. For more incremental reforms, however, welfare gains from stiffer drunk-driver fines and non-pecuniary penalties are larger, even though they involve implementation costs, possible first-order deadweight losses, and fiscal considerations play a minor role. In contrast to current practice, fiscal considerations warrant relatively heavier taxation of beer and relatively lighter taxation of spirits.

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  • Parry, Ian W.H. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & West, Sarah E., 2006. "Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Taxes," RFF Working Paper Series dp-06-51, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-06-51
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    2. Bossi, Luca & Calcott, Paul & Petkov, Vladimir, 2011. "Optimal Tax Rules for Addictive Consumption," Working Paper Series 1673, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    3. West, Sara E. & Parry, Ian W.H., 2009. "Alcohol-Leisure Complementarity: Empirical Estimates and Implications for Tax Policy," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(4), pages 611-633, December.
    4. Luca Bossi & Pedro Gomis-Porqueras & David L. Kelly, 2007. "Optimal Second Best Taxation of Addictive Goods," Working Papers 0708, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    5. Christopher Doran & Thameemul Jainullabudeen, 2010. "Economic efficiency of alcohol policy," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 8(5), pages 351-354, September.
    6. DeCicca, Philip & Kenkel, Donald & Liu, Feng, 2013. "Excise tax avoidance: The case of state cigarette taxes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1130-1141.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    alcohol tax; drunk-driver penalty; fiscal effects; external costs; welfare effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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