What proportion of the price of a typical alcoholic beverage is taxation in Canada and why does it matter?
INTRODUCTION
Canadian distillers and brewers have claimed that between 50% and 80% of the price of alcoholic drinks are government taxes. These claims were made in campaigns to decrease alcohol taxation.


METHODS
We investigated these claims using publicly available Statistics Canada data and provincial-level product sales data and breakdowns of the prices of typical alcohol beverages in major market sectors.


RESULTS
In all cases, the rate of total sales tax and excise taxation are mostly between 20% and 30% of final retail prices, well below the industry claims.
['Churchill|Samuel|S|', 'Stockwell|Tim|T|', 'Sherk|Adam|A|']
D000434:Alcoholic Beverages D002170:Canada D003132:Commerce D006801:Humans D013660:Taxes
taxation Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms alcohol use costs harm reduction public health societal costs substance use surveys