Advocacy

Evidence-based and data-driven public policy is critical to reducing the harmful consumption of alcohol. When regulations nudge consumers to lower-alcohol fermented beverages, like beer, they have the potential to reduce harm. This timetested approach, known as “differentiation,” is embedded in the regulations of many countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes in its latest Global Alcohol Strategy1 that “[s]pirits should be taxed at a higher rate because the production cost is less than the production cost for beer and wine.” Indeed, it concludes that “a tax system based on the volume of alcohol in a product … is likely to have the biggest effect on the reduction of health inequalities.”2 Beer also can play an important role in reducing the consumption of illicit alcohol, which is arguably the worst form of harmful consumption because it escapes all product safety and regulatory controls, and pays no excise taxes.

According to Euromonitor International, globally one in four beverage alcohols are illicit, and the majority of illicit alcohol also tends to be distilled beverages with ABV levels higher than beer.3 The WHO notes, “The existence of a substantial illicit or informal market for alcohol can also complicate policy considerations for alcohol taxes. In such circumstances, tax increases should be accompanied by government efforts to control illicit or informal markets through, for instance, tax policies that make low-alcohol and nonalcoholic variations of culturally preferred beverages more attractive.”4 We, together with other brewers, advocate for policies that adjust excise taxes and regulations based on the origin of the alcohol and the alcohol content of the beverage. In 2021, for example, six states in India (Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) changed their alcohol excise policies with the aim of shifting the drinking culture toward lower-alcohol fermented beverages.