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Few States Dedicate Alcohol Excise Tax to Fund Alcohol Treatment Programs
New Analysis Shows How Critical Programs Can Be Saved by Little-Known Revenue Source
May 29, 2003CONTACT
David Anderson, 202.530.2321
Lynora Williams, 202.234.5273
WASHINGTON, DC--A George Washington University Medical Center initiative to increase access to treatment for individuals with alcohol problems, Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems, today released an analysis to determine which U.S. states use taxes on alcoholic beverage products to fund treatment programs. The analysis found that only ten states--Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee and Utah--earmark excise tax revenues from alcohol sales in their state to fund alcohol treatment programs (see table below).
Because states face revenue shortfalls of an estimated $80 billion, more are forced to consider cuts to crucial programs, such as those that identify and treat alcohol problems. For example, in Pennsylvania, alcohol and drug treatment programs have been hit hard. They are slated for a $100 million or 50 percent reduction on July 1. By the end of June, even more states will be putting critical services on the chopping block as they come up against budget deadlines. Despite these pending cuts, most states are not tapping a valuable revenue stream that the ten states identified in this analysis are using to support treatment and other programs.
“Our analysis shows that only ten states are taking advantage of the alcohol excise tax to pay for these valuable alcohol treatment programs,” said Eric Goplerud, PhD, director of Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at The George Washington University Medical Center. “Cutting funding for treatment doesn't make economic sense when untreated alcohol problems cost the country billions more in health care costs.”
Each year alcohol problems drain nearly $185 billion from the American economy health care costs alone amount to $26 billion and over 51 million extra sick days are taken annually.
States With Alcohol Excise Taxes Dedicated to Treatment
State | Program |
|---|---|
Arizona | Drug and Alcohol Treatment Fund |
Idaho | Alcoholism Treatment Account |
Kansas | Community Alcoholism and Intoxication Programs Fund |
Mississippi | Alcoholism Treatment and Rehabilitation Fund |
Montana | Treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of alcoholism and chemical dependency. |
New Jersey | Alcohol Education, Rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund |
Nevada | Increase services for prevention and treatment of alcoholism and alcohol abuse. |
Oregon | Mental Health Alcoholism and Drug Services Account |
Tennessee | To assist municipalities and counties in carrying out the provisions of the state's 1973 Comprehensive Alcohol and Drug Treatment Act |
Utah | Programs or projects related to prevention, treatment, detection, and prosecution. |
Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at The George Washington University Medical Center seeks to increase access to treatment for individuals with alcohol problems. Working with policymakers, employers and concerned citizens, Ensuring Solutions will provide research-based information and tools to help curb the avoidable health care and other costs associated with alcohol use and improve access to treatment for Americans who need it. The project is supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.