Bootlegger’s Bill: Prohibition Rakes in a Billion-Dollar Tab

In a scathing report, the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment has laid bare the staggering costs of the country’s ill-fated experiment in temperance. Released on May 13, 1929, the statistical survey paints a grim picture of the financial fallout from Prohibition, which has been in effect since 1920. The report estimates that the costs of enforcement and lost revenue have added up to a staggering $936,000,000 annually, a sum that dwarfs the $882,727,114 paid in personal income taxes the previous year.