Sunday, February 27, 2005

Student groups back higher tax on beer

This article is about how anti-drinking groups in high schools and colleges are trying to increase tax on beer. While this sin tax seems like a very good idea to lower the number of underage consumers, I think the demand curve for beer is rather inelastic. Yes there will always be the students that say, "no way I do not have the money to continue to buy it," but the majority will probably complain while they are in line with their case of Bud Light. Even the ones who do not buy it could possibly still be consuming it from another source, which still paid the extra money. I think this tax will help increase sales revenue for beer companies. Lets face it, though underage drinking is illegal, it brings a great deal of revenue to the industry.

1 comment:

Morgan K said...

I agree completely. It's the exact same thing as the cigarette example we were given in class. Those taxes have turned a *small amount* of people away from smoking, however, total revenue is still higher. High school and college students do like to go out and have a good time, so the tax would not detour them from their weekend consumption. The only thing that may be effected would be the brand of beer they are buying, a cheaper beer would make up for the additional tax costs.