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Originally Posted by mardigras
Yeah, amazing how many people stopped smoking and drinking just because of the taxes  |
Real (not nominal) alcohol taxes have actually decreased since World War II.
Not sure how you would tease out the effect you speak of. Per capita alcohol consumption is down in the US the past 20 years. Smoking is down too. Now I would say that is mostly due to cultural/health changes. Less people are smoking though. Due to taxes? Maybe. Maybe not. Here is what happened in Oregon in just two years in the late 1990s though. A 10% tax was followed by a 10% drop in consumption.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056574.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwr...s/00001960.gif