This paper examines the impact of Maryland’s 2011 3% alcohol sales tax on household alcohol purchases using NielsenIQ scanner data. Using difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods, I find a 7.7% decline in monthly ethanol purchases per adult, driven largely by reductions in spirits. Heavy drinkers also reduced consumption.

This paper reexamines the effect of beer excise taxes on alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities in the U.S. Using updated national data and fixed effect Poisson models, we find consistent evidence that higher beer taxes reduce alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities. Results are robust to alternative specifications, including new dynamic event study estimators that address staggered treatment timing concerns.