That would be a good argument if the state and the corporations it is in cahoots with weren’t creating the problem in the first place.
Alcohol related deaths are the 3rd highest preventable form of death in the US. It's great that you can responsibly enjoy an IPA with your friends. Pretending it's only fun and good times on the larger scale is naive at best.
It is not your right to choose what others do with their life. When it's abortion, some people are all "her body, her choice!", and when it's alcohol or cigarettes, it's "her body, our choice!".
Why do you think the sanctity of somebody's own life is yours to weigh against the risks of alcoholism or a tobacco habit, or a taste for soda?
Apply the same argument to healthcare. The main difference is that you think that you have the right to tell people what's good for them.
> This hypothetical tax is meant to represent my desire not to have to deal with the consequences of your choices.
If a man and his son crack a couple beers by the fire in Wyoming, why should their private activities be any of your business? Why impose your will more on the poor than on the middle class or the rich? Your desires are not relevant to the right of ordinary Americans to buy and sell alcohol to and from the willing, just as they are irrelevant to the right of a single mother to raise her own son, or for teenagers to get pregnant; it's just none of your business what people do once you've said your piece, no matter what you think of the risk that they might tend to be more likely to behave in a way you dislike.