Public Health Policy and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Public Health Policy and Society - Essay Example In April 2008, the Australian government increased Alcopops tax by seventy percent (Squires, 2008). Ever since, the government has been collecting these taxes and withholding them from the liqueur companies. By May this year, the government had collected more than four hundred million dollars (Squires, 2008). A bill was passed by the lower house of Australian parliament that allowed the government to keep that money. The bill was passed in the month of May (Skov, 2009). This bill is highly likely to be passed by the senate. Another bill allowed the government to go on collecting those taxes until May 2010. The aim is to bring to the floor of the house a bill that aims to make this taxation a permanent feature of Australian tax revenues. This taxation aims to cut down on the production and consumption of alcohol in Australia. This will be in line with other developed countries that charge the liquor companies higher taxes. The alcopop tax was introduced to curb the consumption of ready to drink alcohol. This kind of alcohol is what is referred to as alcopop (Skov, 2009). It includes those canned beers that are sold in the supermarkets, for example Smirnoff, vodka amongst others. It is not only aimed at those canned drinks but all form of alcoholic beverages that are ready to drink, excluding the spirits. This taxation has been informed by the issues of the health of the Australian public. This was a result of the realization that â€Å"social context and the health of the community and individuals are interlinked† (Macdonald, 2005: 53). Therefore alcoholism, a social aspect, affects the health of the public. Alcopop taxation has been welcomed by the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Skov, 2009). Though it has not yet been passed by the senate, the college believes that this is a step in the right direction. This is because alcoholism has been found to be a very important public health issue (Macdonald,