The government of Finland has reported that in 2009 the state tax on all alcohol sales will be increased by an additional ten percent. The rationale behind this move is a bid by the government to discourage heavy drinking, which is continuing to be a major social problem for Finns.
The last state tax increase on alcohol was in September 2007. The AP news service reports that the 2007 tax hike was a direct response to a prior decrease in the alcohol tax which resulted in cheap booze pushing alcoholism up to the second leading cause of death in Finland.
In 2005, the Finnish government reduced its tax on alcohol by a whole 40 percent in an attempt to discourage heavy consumption on booze cruise ferries to Estonia and Russia, where alcohol is tax free, and thus very cheap. According to the Health Ministry, the result of that tax slash was a sharp increase in binge drinking within Finland itself.
The government believes the alcohol tax increase in 2007 wasn’t enough to curb Finland’s drinking problem, so the Finance Ministry has announced that in January 2009 the average retail prices on beer, wine and spirits will go up by around 4.5 percent.
[…] Finland ups its alcohol tax to curb binge drinking […]
Increasing the tax wont do anything. Its like video games for you people. They will spend everything on it, because they want it.
the problem is the mafia(alco,monopol),the government needs money go by some drink and get drunk!we need you tax for ouer next government party!if alcohol free the problem is gone.
[…] Do we even need to go there? Scandinavia Cheap Alcohol Causes Problems in Scandinavia Finland Finland ups its alcohol tax to curb binge drinking | IceNews – Daily News But then again, its just media trying to sell papers […]
Absolutely, use of alcohol should be minimized especially to the young ones.
To Christian alcohol rehab:
I would like to mention a personal experience I had some years ago in Tallinn (Estonia). I was staying in a hotel (Central) which is popular with fins.
During the weekend it was full of fins: many of them already had big glasses of beer during breakfast. I saw a group of 16 year old girls in the elevator who were carrying around a bottle of vodka and drinking from it.
I took the ferry to Helsinki on sunday when most fins were leaving. On the way to the ferry terminal enterprising estonians had set up stands where they were selling alcoholic drinks.
Many fins had shoping carts with them, totally filled with booze.
In the ferry terminal I counted at least 4 shops which sold nothing but alcoholic drinks. I tried to buy a sandwich and a shop attendant looked at me as if I were mad: a sandwich????Nobody is interested in this. Some shop owners had opened bottles and allowed passing fins to take a sip and test the drink: this boosted sales.
On board of the ferry it was possible to buy booze tax free, which many people did: as soon as the ferry left the harbour they were queuing up. Hard working attendants ran between the chairs serving….well drinks off course. People around us who were already clearly drunk, took the opportunity to down some more shots.
I must admit that I cannot stand boats and I got seasick, even without drinking any alcohol.
When we entered Helsinki harbour it took ages before the people had left the ferry, with their shopping carts, overflowing with bottles of booze. Some people really had trouble walking. Still, I saw how some of them stumbled to their cars which had been parked next to the ferry harbour: they loaded their booze into it and …drove off.
I would like to add to this that finnish alcoholics are not bothersome at all, like drunks in for instance the UK or the Nethelrands: they do not harass other people (I had no trouble with them at all; I was just amazed) : the only thing they care about is getting their dose of alcohol during the weekend.
I am certain that on monday all of them go to their job and work normally.
To the last commenter: I’m not sure how you are so sure that Finns are willing to go to such lengths to participate in binge drinking. I would agree that people who are prone to binge drinking would be more likely to pay the extra money or take a trip as you describe- but I don’t know why you are so sure.
I think you underestimate this tax’s effect on rate of drunken driving. Many Finns will continue to go to countries like Russia or take an overnight ferry to Sweden or Germany in order to get duty-free booze and they will buy it in masse. So the rate of alcohol consumption will stay the same especially for younger people since they are more willing to take these kinds of ferries.
The rate use of alcoholic drinks will be lessen and accidents on driving drunk will decrease as well.
The use of alcohol can also be minimize especially to younger ones from 12 years old or older.
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