A specific or volumetric tax per litre of alcohol by volume as now levied on beer and spirits is more appropriate than an ad valorem tax as now levied on wine. The volume of alcohol consumed is more closely correlated with the magnitude of the external costs than with the dollars spent on alcohol. Although some have argued that the higher the alcohol concentration the easier and quicker it is to get drunk, the evidence is that all beverages with different alcohol concentration rates have a similar propensity for excessive consumption (Srivastava and Zhao, 2010), and many alcoholics consume two or more forms of the beverage (Ramful and Zhao, 2008).