Alcohol tax proposal is nothing but a money grab

In regard to your Jan. 18 wire-service article “Science panel backs lower drunken driving threshold”: The article included a statement that “Research suggests a doubling of alcohol taxes could lead to an 11 percent reduction in traffic crash deaths.”

First of all, the words “suggests” and “could” means this is merely a guess, no hard facts. Secondly, this is just another way for our government representatives to get more public funds that they can waste on pet political projects used to get re-elected.

The report was commissioned by the U.S. government. Will this increase actually reduce drunken-driving deaths? Absolutely not. The abusers will still abuse, and the responsible drinkers will end up paying for the few who drive and kill. Has the high price of illegal drugs reduced the use of drugs and drug-related deaths? We all know the answer to that one.