Make Drinkers Pay the Social Cost of Imbibing

Most Americans are familiar with that staple of 1988 campaign rhetoric: "Read my lips--no new taxes." But how many, including the President, are aware that there are other reasons to raise a tax besides raising new government revenues? One good reason to tax a commodity, for example, is if its use imposes costs on others. If the tax isn't at least equal to those costs, it ought to be raised accordingly. That, in essence, is why we believe federal taxes on alcoholic beverages ought to be boosted--not in order to reduce the budget deficit, although that would be a side effect, but to ensure that heavy drinkers bear more of the social burden they create. (April 30, 1989)