The proposal of using taxes from alcohol to fund healthcare services is referring to as earmarking. The earmarking is usually legislated and would usually lead to all or a portion of the funds being used to finance healthcare services in general or a specific aspect of healthcare, e.g messaging on the harmful effects of alcohol. This legislative mandate lies with the Minister of Finance.
Historically the National Department of Health has raised the earmarking of sin taxes (alcohol, tobacco, sugar) as an option with the National Treasury. The National Treasury has been reluctant to accept the earmarking proposal citing the following reasons:
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