Quote:
Originally Posted by eastwestman
Okay, so the government purposely makes alcohol prohibitively expensive in order to discourage consumption......interesting.
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Contrary to popular belief, taxing tobacco or alcoholic products comparatively high,
does not reduce consumption.
I think it is a fair way of *publicly paying* for all the results, that these products cause.
Do not tax me when I am not the cause of the problem ...
When people feel the *need* to consume alcohol, or tobacco,
they will not be *slowed* down, by taxing those products.
What *does* make people *stop* consuming alcohol or smoke,
is the realisation that it does impair their health.
Same phenomenon with gasoline.
Raising the price, does reduce the amount of driving, but the result is negligible.
Where I live, the amount of driving, did not reduce at all, even tho, the price was the highest in the USA !!!
I think, it is a matter of:
You get used to everything, even hanging ...
Sooner or later you do not complain anymore !
Keep in mind also that the Nordic countries do have *problems* in that area.
We used to say that you can recognise people form the Nordic countries at airports with your eyes closed.
Just listen for bottles clanging each other in their luggage ...
A lot of them use the ferries just get *cheaper booze* ...
Mankind will find ways to get what they think they *need*.
So, yes, it may *discourage* the purchase of those highly taxed products in their country,
but there are so many other ways to get it.
In the end, I do not think, that taxing heavily will discourage heavy drinking.
It might just barely pay for the cost to treat the results, except, how does one pay for death ??
The geo-alcohol belts of Europe | Investoralist
<<<The Nordic case, however, is something else. Episodic drunkenness seems
embedded in the Nordic culture, so much so that most Scandinavian states have outrageously high alcohol taxes to discourage binge-drinking. In a country where alcohol is the most common cause of death among working-aged adults, Finland raised its
alcohol taxes twice in the 2008-2009 period. The Finnish have little cultural basis for moderation when it comes to drinking, so getting drunk becomes the end goal.>>>
Last but not least, having lived and worked in those countries, it really does not surprise me that this is happening.
The bitter cold and long dark nights, would bring me to drinking also ....