Biomaterial Database

What proportion of the price of a typical alcoholic beverage is taxation in Canada and why does it matter? 2021

Samuel Churchill, and Tim Stockwell, and Adam Sherk

Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

BACKGROUND 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.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002170	Canada	The largest country in North America, comprising 10 provinces and three territories. Its capital is Ottawa.
D003132	Commerce	The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)	Business,Commercial Sector,Prices,Sales,Vendors,Businesses,Commerces,Commercial Sectors,Price,Sale,Sector, Commercial,Sectors, Commercial,Vendor
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000434	Alcoholic Beverages	Drinkable liquids containing ETHANOL.	Alcoholic Beverage,Beverage, Alcoholic,Beverages, Alcoholic
D013660	Taxes	Governmental levies on property, inheritance, gifts, etc.	Institutional Tax,Institutional Taxes,Tax,Taxation,Tax, Institutional,Taxes, Institutional