TY - JOUR JO - Journal of Health Inequalities SN - 2450-5927 VL - 7 IS - 2 PY - 2021 ID - Neneman2021 TI - Alcohol excise duty policy in Poland in the 21st century AB - Excise duty is a powerful tool of alcohol policy. The fact that excise is a unit tax means that lack of excise adjustment with inflation means in fact excise reduction in real terms. To understand tax policy with respect to tobacco and alcohol, political perspective must be taken into account. Policymakers consider the political cost and benefits of tax changes. If the public awareness of alcohol epidemic and the social cost of alcohol consumption is low, then it is difficult for politicians to initiate far-reaching alcohol control policies. They may seek popularity among voters, leading to a lose-lose situation: low tax revenue and high social and medical cost of alcohol consumption. This happened in Poland when in 2002 the excise duty on spirit was reduced by 30% resulting in great surge in alcohol related deaths. Social awareness is therefore the key factor for the success of comprehensive alcohol control policy. AU - Neneman, Jarosław SP - 102 EP - 106 DA - 2021 DO - 10.5114/jhi.2021.113169 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5114/jhi.2021.113169 ER -