Prohibition Pros And Cons

ii. Cost to Run Prohibition
The cost to run and enforce Prohibition weakened the government and consumed more money than was expected. The 18th amendment prohibited the brewing, transportation, and purchase of alcohol but there were no restraints in the amendment on consumption of alcohol. The difficulty in enforcement explains why the estimated cost of Prohibition went from congress’ estimated cost of 5 million dollars to 300 million dollars to enforce Prohibition. The approach to Prohibition was also difficult for enforcement and the government because the ban on alcohol was enforced by both the federal and state governments, and due to lack of communication between the two, regulation often resulted in even more complications.
Misconducts

Income tax which had been used to prevent dependence on liquor taxes following the creation of the 18th amendment resulted in creating more deficits in the government as a result of overdependence. Income tax, which had originally been implemented to avoid overdependence on the alcohol tax, resulted in overdependence in itself. While Mellon is noted as to having questionable responses to solving the economic depression in which he believed in liquidation of all things economic, Mellon’s note of heavy dependence on income tax aligns with statistics of the time. Through income tax, Prohibition then acted as a catalyst to the Great Depression. Unequal taxation and the deficit led to less government revenue and lack of flexibility to solve the rising problems. Donald J. Boudreaux argues that after the loss in revenue from the drop in income tax, the government needed a better means of producing revenue during the time of the Great Depression. He notes: “It is no coincidence that Congress first acted to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment only after the severe revenue-reduction shock administered by the Great Depression.” Had the 18th Amendment not been enacted in the first place, the government would have not struggled with revenue, at least as quickly as it did. The 18th Amendment created another blow in an already wrecked system that led to a

Since organized crime ran rampant, some would argue that alcohol consumption increased, especially when one factors in the change in attitudes of the people to drink in speakeasies over that of bars in the past. While there is still argument among if alcohol consumption increased or decreased, new generations of drinkers were born during this age including women and younger generations. According to Granger farmers accounted for 25-30% of the nation’s population. The use of grains in the production of alcohol increased during 1920-1930 from 1.4 million bushels of grain a year to 10.9 million a year. The numbers indicate an increase in production of alcohol despite the ban on alcohol during the entire decade. Prohibition allowed for a proliferation of organized crime and for a mass production crops as well as an increase in production in livestock and meat from those who did not take part in the illegal alcohol