The price of alcohol differ significantly around the world. The United States, for example, has some of the highest alcohol prices due to large tax on importing and purchasing liquors.
But when you buy liquor in the country it was made, the price goes down quite a bit.
For example, the price of Tequila in Mexico is roughly 25% less than the price of the same tequila in the United States. This is due to the taxes as well as the “cost” to ship it over (even when the actual liquor manufacturer is based in the United States).
Vodka in Russia is significantly cheaper. In fact, a pint of vodka can cost as little as 50 rubles, or the American equivalent of 50 cents. This is quite large difference compared to the 15 dollars that even the cheapest vodka may cost in the United States.
Though much of it has to do with government regulating, others has to do simply with both supply and demand as well as ease of brewing. Vodka is so mass produced in Russia that manufacturing it is a breeze, and they can offer these extremely low prices without any significant taxes. In the United States, vodka is considered more of a luxury, and thus the price of vodka is increased dramatically even when there is no real difference. In addition, there are several taxes that boost the overall cost of vodka, with an end result of a beverage that is far more difficult to afford.
Cheap Alcohol
The Czech republic has some of the cheapest alcohol in the world, as evidenced by when the European Union decided to add a tax to the price of a pint of beer. The added tax was 1 euro, or approximately 1.3 American cents, which also equated to approximately 1 crown increase in the Czech Republic. Yet this caused a tremendous uproar. Why? Because the cost of beer in the Czech Republican was previously only 7 crowns – less than 10 cents per pint.
