MARIN -- "They look like bottles of juice," said Gilberto Leon Wednesday, lamenting the appearance of a genre of sweet, fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages that often find favor with underage drinkers.

Dubbed, "alcopops," the beverages, which include Mike's Hard Lemonade, Bacardi Breezer and Zima, are often consumed by underage drinkers. However, higher taxes could prevent this, according to a report released today by the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog.

Leon, a spokesman for the institute, said that if the beverages were taxed as distilled spirits, rather than as beer, the state of California would not only gain revenue, fewer underage kids would be able to afford illegal drinking.

The current tax is $.20 per gallon. The Marin Institute reported the California Board of Equalization is currently considering classifying alcopops as spirits and levying a tax of $3.20 per gallon on the beverages.

According to the institute, similar taxation in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany, has proven to dramatically reduce underage drinking. However, in those countries drinking is allowed during the teenage years. In the United Kingdom, it is only illegal to give your child a drink if they are under age five.

"Underage drinkers consume 47 percent of all alcopops sold in California," said Michele Simon, co-author of the Marin Institute study. The report finds that taxation of the beverages as spirits could save the state $437 million annually by reducing high incidences of harm such as traffic accidents, violent crime, high-risk sex, and fetal alcohol syndrome.

The institute reported alcopops are sold at more than 15,000 stores across California. "Big alcohol companies want to have alcopops taxed cheaply as beer for the youth market," said Bruce Livingstone, director of the Marin Institute, "but they don't want it to be called beer or taste like beer. It's time for the Board of Equalization to close that tax loophole and save kids' lives."

After a government petition filed by two California youth groups, two Board of Equalization members voted to consider reclassifying alcopops. All five members of the Board of Equalization are expected to vote on the proper taxation of alcopops on Aug. 14, the institute reported.