Repeal Day - A Reason To Celebrate

I guess I should have known this was coming, but I have to admit I was clueless. Sure, I know that at one dark period in the US history, beer and other alcohol were illegal, and then one day it wasn't any more. I appreciate the huge effect this had on the beer industry in this country, effectively destroying most small brewers and ultimately causing Bud Miller Coors to rule the country to this very day. Even still there remain new-prohibitionists who believe that beer is evil.

I never really knew exactly when this all started or stopped. I think it was in the late teens, early twenties, but I am not positive about that. Honestly, I was never much of a date-memorizing history student.

Nonetheless, thanks to just about every other beer blogger in the land, I have come to realize via RSS that today is the day that prohibition was repealed. Apparently there's some beer-related technicality, but hey repeal day it is!

So in the spirit of the repeal of prohibition (would you call this allowance? that would make this toast the Art of Allowing) crack a special bottle from your beer cellar and enjoy. I am going to have something fresh from this year - Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.

Raising Alcohol Taxes

I just read on BBC that they want to increase taxes on alcohol. This always sounds like a good idea at first, but when analyzed, turns out to be highly misguided. At first, you think "sure, why not increase taxes to make more money on alcohol. Then they might not raise my income or property taxes." I just want to highlight a few of the flaws that I see in a strategy like this.

First, the government is out one side of their mouths saying "alcohol is bad, don't do it" but then at the same time they have a stake in alcohol sales, since they get tax money from it. We have the same question here in the US about gambling, smoking, and other legal vices. To me it undermines the credibility of the anyone that says something is bad and then profits from it.

Second, it is based on a false notion. I highly disagree that the low cost of some alcohols are what lead to drinking and in turn alcohol-related deaths. The BBC article says, "The Alliance says increasing the price of alcohol by 10% could cut all alcohol-related deaths by between 10% and 30%." But without any evidence sited that I noticed. Probably because it is a statement of opinion. The BBC article also frames this as a child-related issue, which is really just a way for the story to evoke more of a response from the neo-prohibitionists. So I'll rebut with my own opinion: "Kids drink to get drunk, and because they believe it will make them cool. Even adults have the same motivations to a certain extent. Price is one factor, but an increase of ten percent is not going to change anything, except maybe the people will have less money to spend on other things."

Now it is hard to argue against the problems that come from excessive drinking, but increasing the government's rake off the sales of booze doesn't even really indirectly address the problem. I'll broadly suggest the same things that countless of other anti-neo-prohibitionists have said: let's try setting good examples for our children at home, modeling appropriate appreciation and enjoyment of alcohol, and responsible behavior around alcohol.