Shooting down the myths
MYTH It’s a tax on the poor.
FACT No, it’s not a tax and it doesn’t target the poor. It targets cheap, strong alcohol traditionally drunk by those who need the most help. Evidence
Shooting down the myths
MYTH It’s a tax on the poor.
FACT No, it’s not a tax and it doesn’t target the poor. It targets cheap, strong alcohol traditionally drunk by those who need the most help. Evidence shows that people on lower incomes are more likely to abstain.
MYTH Alcohol is already too expensive.
FACT This isn’t true. In 2011, alcohol was 45% more affordable than it was in 1980. It can kill, but in some places it’s cheaper than a bottle of water.
MYTH The responsible majority will be penalised for the minority who drink too much.
FACT The current policy of low alcohol prices means that responsible drinkers
are subsidising the behaviour of 25% of the population who are drinking at increasing and higher risk levels. This measure is targeted at helping vulnerable groups who need the most support, not the majority, who have nothing to fear. Under a minimum 50p per unit, moderate drinkers would pay just 28p extra a week.
MYTH If supermarkets make less through alcohol they’ll increase the price of other goods.
FACT No they won’t. If anything it will make them less expensive. Supermarkets use alcohol as a loss leader. As a consequence they have increased the price of non-alcoholic goods. Government is calling on supermarkets to reduce the price of other goods instead of using alcohol as a loss leader.
MYTH It’s the nanny state.
FACT It’s not the nanny state. When an industry’s actions or an individual’s choices ruin the lives of others, particularly vulnerable groups like children, it’s the duty of the state to intervene.
MYTH It won’t make a difference – people will consume the same amounts as they always have.
FACT Our culture hasn’t always been like this. We’re drinking twice as much as we did in the 1950s. In 2011, alcohol was 45% more affordable than it was in 1980. There is a clear association between affordability and consumption. It will make a difference. Research from Sheffield University found that a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol would reduce consumption:
- per drinker by 6.9% on average
- per 11-18-year-old drinker by 7.3%,
- per 18-24-year-old hazardous drinkers by 3%
- of harmful drinkers by 10.3%
- of moderate drinkers by 3.5%.
It's already working in other countries such as Canada. Introduced in 2010, key findings have suggested:
- A 10% incr