We already suffer some of the most draconian taxation on alcohol, and yet the gaff-prone health minister, Patricia Hewitt, has written to the Chancellor to demand a steep hike in taxation in the next budget.  Ms Hewitt believes that raising tax can stem the chronic abuse of alcohol by Britain's youth.

When will politicians learn?  Taxation has very little effect on how people drink.  And consumption itself cannot be blamed on anti-social behaviour.  On the continent where taxes are invariably low, many countries have very few problems with alcoholic related problems.  It's cultural, not economic.  

Finland notoriously taxes alcohol very heavily, yet Finnish consumption exceeds that of Greece and Poland.  Alcoholics, it seems, couldn't give a XXXX for the price mechanism.  Hungary on the other hand, has low prices, high consumption, and many problems.  My mother was in Budapest last weekend and was disconcerted by the number of vagrants openly dunk on the city's streets.

This is yet another knee-jerk reaction to public concern over anti-social behaviour; MP's, clearly wholly unable to stem its rise, are desperate to be seen to be tackling it.  So rather than tackle the real root problems of social exclusion, such as inequality, unquenchable material aspiration, and a serious lack of civic provision, kids turn to alcohol abuse and drugs.

I thought progressive governments tackled causes, not symptoms?
From tygerland.net