The British Government is about to bear on through a law thatrequires a minimum price of 40p per unit of measurement of alcoholto try and stop binge drinking — but one expert argues that tax sine has done little to curb it in the past .
Top prototype : Ewan M. on Flickr .
Cambridge University ’s Dr Philip Withington is the man behind a series of publishing titledIntoxication in Historical and Cultural Perspective , and he believes thattaxing intoxication does n’t keep people from over - indulging . In the sixteenth and seventeenth century , Withington argues , inebriety was a habit more of affluence than poverty , saying “ if inebriant using up is traditionally an index finger of affluence , then minimal pricing will not do much to the economic consumption of affluent groups : rather it touch the less moneyed . ”
That said , it ’s possible that intoxicant comsumption is more classless now than it was in the 17th one C , so it ’s possible that taxes could be more effective . Or that we ’ve learned more in the past few century about how to use sinfulness taxes to control socially negative behaviour .
For example , there ’s a much more late counter - representative , which Withington does n’t count — late attempts to curb smoking through terms boosts and gamy revenue enhancement . cigaret are now incredibly expensive , and it ’s one of the factors linked to the decline of the habit . Or could that variety be instead assign to other factors , like shifting social view and decreased advertising ?
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