Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Kaohsiung Marine University, 142, Hai-Chuan Rd, Nan-Tzu, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
BMC Public Health. 2013 Sep 8;13:810. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-810.
The abuse of alcoholic beverages leads to numerous negative consequences in Taiwan, as around the world. Alcohol abuse not only contributes to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer, but it is also an underlying cause of many other serious problems, such as traffic accidents, lost productivity, and domestic violence. International leaders in health policy are increasingly using taxation as an effective tool with which to lower alcohol consumption. In this study, we assessed how consumption patterns in Taiwan would be affected by levying a welfare surcharge on alcoholic beverages of 20%, 40% or 60% in accordance with the current excise tax. We also assessed the medical savings Taiwan would experience if consumption of alcoholic beverages were to decrease and how much additional revenue a welfare surcharge would generate.
We estimated the elasticity of four types of alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, whisky and brandy) using the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Demand Model. Specifically, we estimated alcohol's price elasticity by analyzing the sales prices and time statistics of these products from 1974 to 2009.
Alcoholic beverages in Taiwan have the following price elasticities: beer (-0.820), wine (-0.955), whisky (-0.587), brandy (-0.958). A welfare surcharge tax of 40% in accordance with the excise tax would decrease overall consumption of beer, wine, whisky and brandy between 16.24% and 16.42%. It would also generate New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) revenues of 5.782 billion to 5.993 billion. Savings in medical costs would range from NT$871.07 million to NT$897.46 million annually.
A social and welfare surcharge of 40% on alcoholic beverages in Taiwan would successfully lower consumption rates, decrease medical costs, and generate revenue that could be used to educate consumers and further decrease consumption rates. Consequently, we strongly recommend that such a tax be imposed in Taiwan.
在台湾，酗酒如同世界其他地方一样，导致了许多负面后果。酗酒不仅会导致心血管疾病、高血压、糖尿病和癌症，还是许多其他严重问题的潜在原因，如交通事故、生产力损失和家庭暴力。国际卫生政策领导者越来越多地将税收作为降低酒精消费的有效工具。在这项研究中，我们评估了根据现行消费税对酒精饮料征收 20%、40%或 60%福利附加税后，台湾的消费模式将如何受到影响。我们还评估了如果台湾减少饮酒量，将节省多少医疗费用，以及征收福利附加税将产生多少额外收入。
我们使用中央统计局（CBS）需求模型估算了四种类型的酒精饮料（啤酒、葡萄酒、威士忌和白兰地）的弹性。具体来说，我们通过分析这些产品从 1974 年到 2009 年的销售价格和时间统计数据来估算酒精的价格弹性。
台湾的酒精饮料具有以下价格弹性：啤酒（-0.820）、葡萄酒（-0.955）、威士忌（-0.587）、白兰地（-0.958）。按照消费税征收 40%的福利附加税，将使啤酒、葡萄酒、威士忌和白兰地的总消费量分别减少 16.24%至 16.42%。这也将产生新台币（NT$）57.82 亿至 59.93 亿元的收入。每年节省的医疗费用将在 8710.7 万至 8974.6 万新台币之间。
对台湾的酒精饮料征收 40%的社会和福利附加税将成功降低消费率，减少医疗费用，并产生可用于教育消费者和进一步降低消费率的收入。因此，我们强烈建议在台湾征收这种税。
