Today’s infographic shows How Much Does The Government Make From Alcohol? It was created by Inuit, the makers of Turbo Tax. It “illustrates how much money individuals are being taxed to consume alcohol, and subsequently how much the Federal and State governments are generating in tax revenue. There is also a breakdown of how different types of alcohols are taxed in the various states, as well as international comparisons — to put thing in perspective.”
Click here to see the infographic full size.
As an answer to the question at the top of the page, “How much money does the government make from alcohol?” (not withstanding the imprecise language, “the government”) the answer given is a big understatement. I’m not even talking about all the people employed by the beer, wine, and spirits industries and the income taxes they pay on their income. No, what I mean is that these excise taxes are ADDITIONAL taxes that are charged on alcohol but not on other consumer products, on top of the sales taxes also collected (in most states) on these beverages. Even if the federal and state governments all abolished alcohol excise taxes, most state and local governments would still make a hell of a lot of money on alcohol sales from the sales taxes.
U.S. drinkers get off very lightly.Direct alcohol tax revenues in the UK are the equivalent of around $9 billion and that’s for a population of 60 million..That’s around 9 times as much per capita.