Almost a century after Prohibition ended, alcohol faces a new reckoning.
In New Mexico, where alcohol-related mortality rates are the highest in the U.S., lawmakers are preparing two proposals to reshape how the state taxes alcohol. One would implement a uniform 3% rate, while another tax would adjust for inflation plus add a 20-cent “public health investment fee” per drink. It’s an attempt to modernize what state Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena calls a “flat, regressive” system in which taxes — $1.60 per liter of spirits, 45 cents per bottle of wine, and 41 cents per gallon of beer — have stagnated for decades.
