Harwood and colleagues (1998) included in their report an estimate of how the burden of the costs of alcohol abuse is distributed across various segments of society. This analysis, based on the data for 1992, estimated that about 45 percent of the estimated total cost was borne by alcohol abusers and their families, almost all of which was the result of lost or reduced earnings. About 20 percent of the total estimated cost of alcohol abuse was borne by the Federal government, mostly in the form of reduced tax revenues resulting from alcohol-related productivity losses, and 18 percent of the total was borne by State and local governments, in the form of reduced tax revenue and criminal justice and motor vehicle-related costs. Private insurance arrangements (including life, health, auto, fire, and other kinds of insurance) shouldered 10 percent of the total estimated cost, primarily in the areas of health care costs and motor vehicle crashes. Six percent of the total cost was borne by victims of alcohol-related crimes (including homicide) and by the nondrinking victims of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.
