State can reduce its alcohol addiction
Fighting the liquor lobby in Santa Fe has never been easy — but House Bill 230 to establish a flat 25-cents-a-drink tax and use the millions raised to reduce the ravages of alcohol remains alive.
As it should.
The legislation passed on a 6-4 vote in the House Health and Human Services Committee and is headed for another hearing in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Make sure to let your representative know this tax — the first increase on alcohol taxes in decades — is essential.
Here’s why: Yes, alcohol is legal. Prohibition does not work. But it is beyond foolish to ignore an inescapable reality — alcohol, even in moderation, can cause harm. When drinking turns heavy, as it does too often, the harm intensifies.
The millions of dollars the tax is projected to bring in annually is designed to reduce some of that devastation. Some 86% of the revenue from the tax — an estimated $155 million — would be directed to a new Alcohol Harms Alleviation Fund.
The revenues would go to support health treatment and other programs, including efforts to reduce problem drinking and delay the age young people first raise a glass.
Essentially, the idea is to charge more for alcohol to reduce consumption — vital in a state that leads the nation in deaths caused by alcohol. We’re not just first; we’re No. 1 with a bullet. Statistics from the state Department of Health showed that in 2021, 2,273 New Mexicans died from alcohol-related causes — that’s 1 in 11 deaths.
The death rate in New Mexico attributed to alcohol is nearly three times the national average.
It is connected to more deaths than fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine combined.
Critics of the legislation say a tax on drinking is regressive, hurting those who have less money. That’s not necessarily the case. Alcohol, unlike water or food, is not a necessity — regressive taxes hurt when they are on goods people must purchase. On goods like alcohol, consumption is a choice.
If it costs more, people can choose to drink less.
A 2015 study prepared by Healthy Places Consulting for the Legislature estimated the 25 cents-a-drink tax could reduce alcohol consumption by as much as 9.98%, according to the current legislative analysis of HB 230. Expert testimony last week put the figure around 7%.
Either way, the numbers are significant. The analysis reports decreased consumption could save 52 lives, head off 306 violent acts and prevent 12,375 cases of alcohol dependence or abuse in New Mexico every year. Underage drinking could be decreased by as much as 13%.
Critics — read: the alcohol industry and its enablers — also complain about a higher tax at a time of surplus. It’s because this is a time of surplus the state can afford to divert alcohol taxes from the general fund.
Now is when the state can afford this. Now is when New Mexico is in crisis.
Reporting in 2022 by New Mexico In Depth, published in The New Mexican, detailed clearly that a too-lax regulation of alcohol in the state literally is killing people. Between 2019 and 2021, statewide alcohol-related deaths rose more than 32%. Raising the price of a drink — and then directing those dollars to harm reduction — will begin to rein in those numbers.
The legislation could be a game-changer in a state constantly struggling to improve.
Simply surviving a hearing with a do-pass recommendation is progress — just not enough. House Bill 230 needs to become law.
Higher alcohol taxes will reduce consumption, but the added revenue also will ensure New Mexico has the resources it needs to combat the effects of alcohol, now and in the future.
Our state’s addiction to alcohol is a root cause of the many other challenges we face. The first step in fighting addiction is admitting the problem is real. New Mexico must take that step before it’s too late.