“Canadian researcher suggests increasing taxes on tobacco and alcohol”
“To favor beer with a lighter taxation is to ignore the concept that ‘alcohol is alcohol'”
Otempo reports:
“Brazil should take advantage of the selective tax regulation provided for in the tax reform to increase the tax burden on tobacco and alcoholic beverages, which would help reduce consumption and generate revenue to address the harmful effects of these products.
“This is the assessment of Canadian researcher Jeffrey Drope, who participated in the preparation of a proposal submitted to the Brazilian government on beverage taxation.
“‘Brazil has a long way to go to improve alcohol taxation and significantly increase the burden on these products. Alcoholic beverages are very cheap and this helps boost high consumption,’ says the researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA), director of the Economics for Health research group and author of the Tobacco Atlas project.”
Terra reports:
“…the text approved and converted into Complementary Law (LC) No.º 214/2025 establishes that the ad valorem rate may be progressive according to the alcohol content of the product, making room for beer to be less taxed than wines and spirits, as is currently the case with the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI).
“Defenders of the progressive rate argue that this measure would be more effective in protecting public health, taxing drinks with a higher concentration of alcohol more heavily. But this logic disregards the Brazilian context, in which beer represents about 90% of alcohol consumption. Regarding the harmfulness of alcohol, the Ministry of Health warns that there is no safe consumption. According to Fiocruz, in 2019, about 104,000 deaths in Brazil were associated with alcohol consumption, generating costs between R$ 10 billion and R$ 18.8 billion in health and loss of productivity.
“The National Survey on Alcohol Consumption Patterns in the Brazilian Population indicates that among Brazilians who practice binge drinking (fast and excessive alcohol consumption), beer accounted for 73% of the doses ingested, while wines and spirits totaled 25%.”
“Sin tax and distrust”
“Will beer become more expensive in Brazil? The WHO issues a health warning”
Diario do comercio reports:
“Tax lawyers have reservations about the creation of the Selective Tax in the tax reform and believe that the new tax will, in practice, be used to raise Union revenue. Created by the tax reform to discourage the consumption of products that are harmful to health and the environment, the Selective Tax (IS), known as the sin tax, in theory has an extra-fiscal character, i.e. it is not intended to increase government revenues.
“However, there are fears that the tax, of the same type as the IOF (Financial Transaction Tax), will be used for this purpose, according to tax lawyers… technically, the IS was created with the intention of being an extra-fiscal tax, i.e. aimed at inducing behaviour, such as discouraging smoking, excessive alcohol consumption or environmental pollution.
“However, he says it is necessary to be wary of what is known as ‘façade taxation’. ‘Brazil’s history with selective taxes, such as IPI, IOF and CIDE, shows that regulatory discourse often serves as a legitimising façade for purely revenue-raising purposes,’ he warns. According to the tax expert’s assessment, there is a concrete risk that the tax will be used to replenish the Union’s revenues, especially after the extinction of the IPI.”
A Tarde reports:
“Beer and other alcoholic beverages may become more expensive in Brazil in the coming years, driven by a global movement led by the World Health Organization (WHO). The entity launched on [July 3] the “3 in 35 initiative”, which proposes that countries increase the real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035.
“The goal of the campaign is clear: to contain the advance of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, responsible for more than 75% of deaths worldwide, according to the WHO.
“The entity estimates that a single 50% increase in the price of these products could prevent up to 50 million premature deaths in the next 50 years. In addition to the impact on health, the program seeks to strengthen the financing of public systems. The expectation is to raise $1 trillion globally over the next 10 years to strengthen investments in health and sustainable development.
“Around here, the debate is already moving forward. Brazil foresees for 2027 the creation of the so-called Selective Tax, which will focus precisely on products considered harmful to health, such as alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and cigarettes. The new rate is being discussed within the scope of the tax reform, approved in 2023.”
Assessment
The debate around Brazil’s forthcoming Selective Tax (IS) is gaining momentum, and there are encouraging signs that alcohol taxation is being taken seriously as a tool to prevent and reduce harm.
The media discourse is reflecting different perspective and interests in the alcohol tax rates.
On the one hand, concerns and “reservations” about the selective tax are circulating in the media discourse. But even in this discourse, there is acknowledgment that the selective tax, including alcohol excise taxes, help raise much needed revenue. Another concern is about how the alcohol excise tax reform tackles beer – the biggest part of the alcohol market in Brazil. But even in discourses that might benefit the powerful beer industry in Brazil, there’s attention to the country’s alcohol burden regarding alcohol’s death toll and alcohol’s economic costs. Narratives that dilute the effectiveness of alcohol taxation persist but are not dominant.
This indicates that alcohol policy advocacy is shaping the public discourse and that the efforts of the RESET Alcohol Initiative in Brazil are fruitful.
Jeff Drope, from RESET partner Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has added timely and influential support for raising alcohol taxes in an evidence-based and ambitious way. His evidence-informed proposal strengthens the public health case for ensuring the Selective Tax includes alcohol tax rates at meaningful levels.
Momentum is also growing globally. The World Health Organisation’s new “3 by 35 Initiative” calls on countries to increase the real prices of alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035. Brazil’s tax reform offers a pathway to align with this goal and join global efforts to reduce non-communicable diseases while strengthening health financing.
Clearly, there is moment in the public and media discourse with local attention and awareness and global initiatives providing additional support. For alcohol policy advocates, this means a wide-open window of opportunity to advance the public health, social justice, and sustainability rationale for the raising alcohol taxes. At the same time, countering attempts by the alcohol industry to pollute the discourse remain important.