Maryland has joined the ranks of states who think that asking people to spend a little more on alcohol would save a lot of lives. Florida also has a sin tax proposal on the table.
The Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund has proposed taxing alcohol to the tune of an additional dime a drink. They expect that small tax increase to make a big difference.
According to a study completed last year by Professors David Jernigan and Hugh Waters of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, this could prevent 15,000 cases of alcohol abuse, stop nearly 400 acts of violence against women and children, and reduce state health care costs by $249 million dollars a year. As the Hopkins study explains, alcohol abuse costs Maryland about $5.2 billion annually, but a dime a drink alcohol tax increase would save lives.
To read the full study, follow this link.
To read more on the situation in Maryland, click here.
To read the story on Florida’s alcohol tax increase proposal, click here.