Increasing tax on alcohol key to reducing consumption, says study

Increasing the cost of the cheapest alcohol could reduce consumption by nearly 12 standard drinks a week for low-income wine consumers, a new Monash University study says. Called Are Alcohol Taxation and Pricing Policies Regressive? Product-Level Effects of a Specific Tax and a Minimum Unit Price for Alcohol, the study was conducted by Brian Vandenberg and Anurag Sharma. Mr Vandenberg, who is at the Centre for Health Economics, said the study took a year to complete.