Does The Sin Tax Work?

The short answer is, NO.

This is an interesting case study from Germany, which recently imposed a specific tax on popular teen alcohol drinks in 2004.

How much of a tax? They nearly doubled retail prices of the drinks in an effort to reduce consumption among their under-age drinkers.

Writing in the journal Addiction, Stefanie Muller pointed out that consumption of alcohol actually increased after the Sin Tax was introduced. The little German teens simply shifted their preferences from the teen alcohol drinks (known as “alcopops”) to the more alcoholic beer and spirits.

So. Germany doubled the tax on the alcoholic drinks popular among teens. That caused the teens to increase consumption of other drinks, including some such as spirits that may be associated with riskier consumption patterns.

Thus, there must be additional ways to approach this problem. The “top-down” tax approach must be accompanied by efforts to change the mindset of these kids themselves. And the best anti-drug, anti-drink, anti-risk behavior in the world is call The Parents.