In 2011, the Maryland General Assembly passed and then Governor Martin O'Malley signed a bill increasing the sales tax on alcohol.
All beer, wine and liquor purchases now come with a 9 percent sales tax. A study released Monday shows that because of that tax, Marylanders are buying less booze.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied purchase behaviors before and after the tax went into effect. They found that overall, alcohol sales dropped 3.8 percent compared to what was expected if the tax didn't increase.
Sales of liquor fell about 5 percent, beer sales fell about 3 percent and wine sales were down 2.5 percent.
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