Investigating Indicators to Assess and Support Alcohol Taxation Policy: Results From the International Alcohol Control (IAC) Study

Casswell, Sally; Parker, Karl; Randerson, Steve; Huckle, Taisia; Athauda, Lathika; Banavaram, Aravind; Callinan, Sarah; Campbell, Orfhlaith; Chaiyasong, Surasak; Dearak, Song; Romero-Garcia, Laura; Gururaj, Gopalkrishna; Kalapat, Romtawan; Karki, Khem; Karlsson, Thomas; Kong, Mom; Liu, Shiwei; Maldonado, Norman; González-Mejía, Juan Felipe; Naimi, Tim; Nthomang, Keitseope; Oladunni, Opeyemi; Owino, Kwame; Herrera-Palacio, Juan; Phatchana, Phasith; Pradhan, Pranil; Rossow, Ingeborg; Shorter, Gillian; Sibounheuang, Vanlounny; Štelemėkas, Mindaugas; Son, Dao The; Vallance, Kate; Van Dalen, Wim; Wettlaufer, Ashley; Zamora, Arianne

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8551

Investigating Indicators to Assess and Support Alcohol Taxation Policy: Results From the International Alcohol Control (IAC) Study

Document Type : Short Communication

Authors

Sally Casswell ¹

Karl Parker ¹

Steve Randerson ¹

Taisia Huckle ¹

Lathika Athauda ²

Aravind Banavaram ³

Sarah Callinan ⁴

Orfhlaith Campbell ⁵

Surasak Chaiyasong ⁶

Song Dearak ⁷

Laura Romero-Garcia ⁸

Gopalkrishna Gururaj ⁹

Romtawan Kalapat ⁶

Khem Karki ¹⁰

Thomas Karlsson ¹¹

Mom Kong ⁷

Shiwei Liu ¹²

Norman Maldonado ⁸

Juan Felipe González-Mejía ⁸

Tim Naimi ¹³

Keitseope Nthomang ¹⁴

Opeyemi Oladunni ¹⁵

Kwame Owino ¹⁶

Juan Herrera-Palacio ⁸

Phasith Phatchana ⁶

Pranil Pradhan ¹⁰

Ingeborg Rossow ¹⁷

Gillian Shorter ⁵

Vanlounny Sibounheuang ¹⁸

Mindaugas Štelemėkas ¹⁹

Dao The Son ²⁰

Kate Vallance ¹³

Wim van Dalen ²¹

Ashley Wettlaufer ²²

Arianne Zamora ²³

¹ SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, College of Health, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

² Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka

³ Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India

⁴ Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR), School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

⁵ Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

⁶ Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahasarakham University (MSU), Kham Riang, Thailand

⁷ Cambodia Movement for Health, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

⁸ PROESA, Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia

⁹ National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Kamataka, India

¹⁰ Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal

¹¹ Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

¹² Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

¹³ Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

¹⁴ Department of Social Work, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

¹⁵ Department of Public Health, Adeleke University, Ede, Nigeria

¹⁶ Institute of Economic Affairs, Nairobi, Kenya

¹⁷ Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

¹⁸ Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Health Sciences, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic

¹⁹ Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania

²⁰ Thuongmai University, Hanoi, Vietnam

²¹ Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy STAP, Utrecht, The Netherlands

²² Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada

²³ EpiMetrics.Inc, Manila, Philippines

10.34172/ijhpm.8551

Abstract

Alcohol taxation is a key policy to reduce consumption and alcohol harm but evidence on tax design and indicators to assess taxation policy are lacking. Tax design and two indicators: tax as a share of lowest retail price and affordability, were investigated in eight high-income and nine middle-income jurisdictions. Collaborators populated the International Alcohol Control (IAC) study online Alcohol Policy Tool, providing measures of tax design, tax rates; and typical lowest prices available for retail take-away alcohol. These data were used to calculate tax/share of retail price. Affordability of alcohol was assessed against gross national income (GNI) per capita. High-income jurisdictions had higher tax/share and higher affordability on average compared with middle-income jurisdictions. Over the sample as a whole there was no association between these two indicators of tax policy. The tax designs used also varied with high-income jurisdictions more likely to use specific excise tax reflecting potency and middle-income jurisdictions more likely to utilise ad valorem and specific volume based taxes and to use more than one method across a beverage. Increased alcohol taxation to reduce alcohol consumption and harm is established as a high impact policy and is believed to work by affecting affordability. However, less is known about the best taxation methods to reduce affordability or the best measures to monitor and compare alcohol taxation between countries and over time. In this sample of high- and middle-income jurisdictions tax/price share was not found to predict affordability, suggesting the need to further research indicators of alcohol affordability.

Highlights

Sally Casswell (Google Scholar) (PubMed)

Keywords

Alcohol Pricing Policy

Taxation Methods

Tax/Price Share

Affordability

IAC Study

Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health. Health Taxes to Save Lives: Employing Effective Excise Taxes on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Sugary Beverages. 2019. https://tobacconomics.org/files/research/512/Health-Taxes-to-Save-Lives-Report.pdf.
Babor TF, Casswell S, Graham K, et al. Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2023.
Guindon GE, Zhao K, Fatima T, et al. Prices, taxes and alcohol use: a systematic umbrella review. Addiction. 2022;117(12):3004-3023. doi:1111/add.15966
World Health Organization (WHO). Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030. Geneva: WHO; 2023.
World Health Organization (WHO). The SAFER Initiative: A World Free from Alcohol-Related Harm. Available at: https://www.who.int/initiatives/SAFER. Accessed May 18, 2023.
Vital Strategies. Vital Strategies – RESET Alcohol Program. 2023. Available at: https://www.vitalstrategies.org/resources/vital-strategies-reset-alcohol-program/#:~:text=Reset%20Alcohol%20puts%20proven%20policies,a%20healthier%2C%20more%20prosperous%20future. Accessed June 10, 2024.
Wall M, Casswell S. Affordability of alcohol as a key driver of alcohol demand in New Zealand: a co-integration analysis. Addiction. 2013;108(1):72-79. doi:1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03992.x
Elliott LM, Dalglish SL, Topp SM. Health taxes on tobacco, alcohol, food and drinks in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review of policy content, actors, process and context. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022;11(4):414-428. doi:34172/ijhpm.2020.170
World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2023: Protect People from Tobacco Smoke. Geneva: WHO; 2023.
International Alcohol Control Policy Evaluation Study. Welcome to the IAC Study. 2024. Available at: http://www.iacstudy.org/. Accessed February 2018.
Buchanan R, Byers K, Mansveld K. ‘What gets measured gets done’: exploring the social construction of globalized knowledge for development. In: Hirsche M, Lang A, eds. Research Handbook on the Sociology of International Law. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing; 2018:101-121.
Nelson JP, Moran JR. Effects of alcohol taxation on prices: a systematic review and meta-analysis of pass-through rates. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy. 2019;20(1):20190134. doi:1515/bejeap-2019-0134
Ally AK, Meng Y, Chakraborty R, et al. Alcohol tax pass-through across the product and price range: do retailers treat cheap alcohol differently? Addiction. 2014;109(12):1994-2002. doi:1111/add.12590
Blecher E. Targeting the affordability of cigarettes: a new benchmark for taxation policy in low-income and-middle-income countries. Tob Control. 2010;19(4):325-330. doi:1136/tc.2009.030155
The World Bank. Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control. Washington, DC: World Bank Group; 1999.
Blecher E, Liber A, Van Walbeek C, Rossouw L. An international analysis of the price and affordability of beer. PLoS One. 2018;13(12):e0208831. doi:1371/journal.pone.0208831
Kerr WC, Patterson D, Greenfield TK, et al. U.S. alcohol affordability and real tax rates, 1950-2011. Am J Prev Med. 2013;44(5):459-464. doi:1016/j.amepre.2013.01.007
Paraje G, Pincheira P. [Affordability of beer and soft drinks in 15 Latin American countries]. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2018;42:e49. doi:26633/rpsp.2018.49
Rabinovich L, Brutscher PB, de Vries H, Tiessen J, Clift J, Reding A. The Affordability of Alcoholic Beverages in the European Union: Understanding the Link Between Alcohol Affordability, Consumption and Harms. RAND Europe; 2009.
Rehm J, Tran A, Gobiņa I, et al. Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022;241:109682. doi:1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109682
New Zealand Law Commission. Alcohol in Our Lives: Curbing the Harm. Law Commission Report, No. 114. Wellington: New Zealand Law Commission; 2010.
World Health Organization (WHO). Global Report on the Use of Alcohol Taxes, 2023. Geneva: WHO; 2023.
Angus C, Holmes J, Meier PS. Comparing alcohol taxation throughout the European Union. 2019;114(8):1489-1494. doi:10.1111/add.14631
Roche M, Sandoval RC, Monteiro MG. Comparing taxes on alcoholic beverages in the region of the Americas. Addiction. 2023;118(7):1389-1395. doi:1111/add.16146
Kilian C, Manthey J, Neufeld M, Rehm J. Affordability of alcoholic beverages in the European Union. Eur Addict Res. 2023;29(1):63-66. doi:1159/000527096
Casswell S, Huckle T, Parker K, et al. Benchmarking alcohol policy based on stringency and impact: the International Alcohol Control (IAC) policy index. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022;2(4):e0000109. doi:1371/journal.pgph.0000109
Leung J, Casswell S, Parker K, et al. Effective alcohol policies and lifetime abstinence: An analysis of the International Alcohol Control policy index. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2023;42(3):704-713. doi:1111/dar.13582
Casswell S, Huckle T, Parker K, et al. Effective alcohol policies are associated with reduced consumption among demographic groups who drink heavily. Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2023;47(4):786-795. doi:1111/acer.15030
Casswell S, Randerson S, Parker K, Huckle T. Using the International Alcohol Control (IAC) policy index to assess effects of legislative change in Aotearoa New Zealand. BMC Public Health. 2024;24(1):1563. doi:1186/s12889-024-18992-y
Ma Y. Number of Transacting Users of Meituan from 2017 to 2022. 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1380585/china-meituan-user-number/#:~:text=Meituan's%20transacting%20users%202017%2D2022&text=In%202022%2C%20China's%20leading%20local,from%20690.5%20million%20in%202021. Accessed September 20, 2023.
Wall M, Casswell S, Yeh LC. Purchases by heavier drinking young people concentrated in lower priced beverages: implications for policy. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2017;36(3):352-358. doi:1111/dar.12495
Global Information System on Alcohol and Health. 2023. Available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/global-information-system-on-alcohol-and-health. Accessed February 7, 2024.
The World Bank. PPP Conversion Factor, GDP (LCU Per International $). 2022. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/PA.NUS.PPP. Accessed February 7, 2024.
The World Bank. GNI Per Capita, Atlas Method (Current US$). 2022. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD. Accessed February 7, 2024.
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Calculating Standardized Tax Share and Other Price and Tax Policy Indicators for Alcoholic Beverages in the Region of the Americas: Methodological Note. Washington, DC: PAHO; 2022. Available at: https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/56743. Accessed November 8, 2024.
Churchill S, Stockwell T, Sherk A. What proportion of the price of a typical alcoholic beverage is taxation in Canada and why does it matter? Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2021;41(2):65-67. doi:24095/hpcdp.41.2.05
Neufeld M, Rovira P, Ferreira-Borges C, et al. Impact of introducing a minimum alcohol tax share in retail prices on alcohol-attributable mortality in the WHO European region: a modelling study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022;15:100325. doi:1016/j.lanepe.2022.100325
Manthey J, Jasilionis D, Jiang H, et al. The impact of alcohol taxation increase on all-cause mortality inequalities in Lithuania: an interrupted time series analysis. BMC Med. 2023;21(1):22. doi:1186/s12916-022-02721-6
The World Bank. Gini Index. 2023. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI. Accessed February 7, 2024.