The Economist sez
Russia is looking at plans to quadruple beer excise taxes by 2012. The tax is to allegedly tackle alcoholism, which is so rife it is almost a prerequisite for Russian citizenship. The slight hiccup? The tax increase applies only to beer, not vodka:
The average Russian already drinks 30 litres of hard liquor a year, six times the amount in the EU, while imbibing a modest 77 litres of beer, a little less than a typical European. Pushing up beer prices is far more likely to encourage drinkers to swallow even more vodka or dodgy but cheap home-made spirits than to convince them to give up booze altogether.
Budem zdorovy!
