Increasing alcoholic beverage taxes is recommended to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms.

t g m t s c t r r i v c xcessive use of alcohol is the third-leading cause of preventable death in the nation, and it presents a public health challenge that is being approached rom many directions. The serious toll that alcoholelated injuries anddisease impose on thepopulation of the .S. led the Task Force on Community Preventive Serices (Task Force) to include reduction of excessive alcool consumption and related harms as a priority topic in ts earliest planning sessions. The Task Force has studied nd made recommendations (Table 1) on ways to reduce lcohol-impaired driving and excessive alcohol conumption, including interventions to regulate alcohol utlet density, maintain limits on the days on which and he hours in which alcohol can be sold, enhance enforceent of laws prohibiting sales to minors, and increase axes on alcoholic beverages. A detailed report on the ystematic review of the effectiveness of increasing alcool taxes can be found in the accompanying article in this ssue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.