What Is the Alcohol Tax in Washington State: Spirits, Beer, Wine

The alcohol tax in Washington state hits spirits far harder than beer or wine. Every bottle of liquor sold to a consumer carries a 20.5% spirits sales tax plus a volume tax of $3.7708 per liter, which together add roughly 30% to the shelf price of a typical bottle.¹ Beer and wine are taxed through smaller excise taxes paid upstream by brewers, wineries, and distributors, so the amounts you see at checkout look like ordinary sales tax.

What You Pay on a Bottle of Liquor

Two separate taxes apply to every retail spirits purchase in a sealed container. The first is the 20.5% spirits sales tax on the selling price.² The second is the spirits liter tax, a flat $3.7708 per liter based entirely on how much liquid is in the bottle.¹ A cheap vodka and a top-shelf whiskey in the same size bottle pay the same liter tax; only the percentage-based piece moves with price.

The liter tax on common bottle sizes:

750 ml bottle: about $2.83
1 liter bottle: $3.77
1.75 liter bottle: about $6.60

Put together, here is what a standard 750 ml bottle costs after state tax:

$20 bottle: $4.10 spirits sales tax + $2.83 liter tax = $6.93 added. Register total around $26.93.
$30 bottle: $6.15 + $2.83 = $8.98 added. Register total around $38.98.
$50 bottle: $10.25 + $2.83 = $13.08 added. Register total around $63.08.

The effective rate on a $30 bottle lands near 30%. It drops a little on more expensive bottles because the liter tax is fixed, but never below 20.5%. One point worth knowing: the regular state and local retail sales tax does not stack on top for sealed bottles bought at a store. The 20.5% spirits sales tax takes its place.¹

Canned Cocktails and Ready-to-Drink Spirits

Spirits-based canned cocktails are taxed exactly like bottled liquor. Washington defines spirits as any beverage with alcohol obtained by distillation, so a canned margarita or vodka soda made with distilled spirits carries the full 20.5% sales tax and $3.7708 per liter volume tax.¹ A four-pack of 355 ml cans holds 1.42 liters, which alone adds about $5.35 in liter tax before the percentage is applied.

Malt-based seltzers and similar drinks that use a fermented rather than distilled alcohol base are not classified as spirits. They are taxed as beer, which is dramatically cheaper. The label distinction matters.

Spirits Tax at Bars and Restaurants

On-premise establishments buy spirits at reduced rates: 13.7% spirits sales tax instead of 20.5%, and $2.4408 per liter instead of $3.7708.²³ When those spirits are poured into cocktails and sold by the glass, however, the regular retail sales tax does apply to the drink price the customer pays.¹ So the customer ordering a drink is paying regular sales tax on the menu price, while the bar already absorbed the lower spirits taxes on its wholesale purchase.

Beer Tax

Beer is taxed through an excise tax paid by brewers and distributors, not at the register. The full rate is $8.08 per 31-gallon barrel, built from several layered levies.⁴ That works out to about 26 cents per gallon, or roughly two cents per 12-ounce serving. The cost is folded into the wholesale price before beer reaches store shelves.

Small brewers get a break. Those producing under 60,000 barrels per year are exempt from the $4.78-per-barrel portion of the tax on those first 60,000 barrels, though they pay an offsetting additional tax of $1.48 per barrel on the same volume.⁵ The net effect is a reduced rate of about $4.78 per barrel for qualifying small producers. Once a brewer crosses 60,000 barrels in a year, the full $8.08 rate kicks in on additional production.

Unlike spirits, beer is also subject to the regular state and local retail sales tax when you buy it at a store. Combined state and local rates range from about 7.7% to 10.6% depending on where you shop.⁶

Wine Tax

Wine is taxed per liter through an excise tax paid at the distributor level. The base rate for still wine is 20.25 cents per liter, with an additional one cent per liter levied on top for most wines other than cider and fortified varieties.⁷ Fortified wine, defined by its higher alcohol content, carries a steeper additional tax of 23.44 cents per liter on top of the base, bringing its total excise tax to roughly 44 cents per liter. Cider is taxed at just 3.59 cents per liter.

Like beer, wine also carries the regular state and local retail sales tax at the register, typically 7.7% to 10.6%. The total tax load on wine is a small fraction of what spirits drinkers pay. A standard 750 ml bottle of still wine carries about 16 cents in state excise tax before sales tax, compared with nearly $9 in spirits-specific taxes on a $30 bottle of liquor.

Bringing Alcohol Into Washington From Another State

You can bring up to two liters of spirits (or wine) into Washington from another state without owing Washington tax, but only once per calendar month.⁸ Anything beyond two liters in a given month requires paying the full spirits tax and markup. The same rule allows 288 ounces of beer under the same monthly limit. Two liters is roughly two 1-liter bottles or just over two 750 ml bottles, and the limit applies per individual.

Why Washington’s Spirits Taxes Are So High

The current tax structure dates to 2012. Before then, Washington ran its own liquor stores and built a markup into the shelf price that funded state operations. In November 2011, voters approved Initiative 1183 by a 59–41 margin, closing the state-run stores and opening spirits sales to private retailers.³ The state-run stores closed by May 31, 2012. The spirits sales tax and liter tax replaced the revenue the old markup system had generated, and the Department of Revenue took over collection.⁹ The visible tax at checkout today is doing the work the hidden markup used to do.

1
Washington Department of Revenue. Spirits (Hard Liquor) Sales Tax
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 82.08.150 – Tax on Certain Sales of Intoxicating Liquors
3
WA.gov / Office of Financial Management. Privatization of Liquor – The Impact of Initiative 1183
4
Washington Department of Revenue. Beer Tax
5
Washington Department of Revenue. Tax Reference Manual – Beer Tax
6
Washington Department of Revenue. Local Sales and Use Tax Rate Table
7
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 66.24.210 – Imposition of Taxes on Sales of Wine and Cider
8
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Washington Admin Code 314-68-030 – How Much Alcoholic Beverages Can a Private Individual Bring Into the State of Washington for Personal or Household Use
9
Washington Department of Revenue. Spirits Liter Tax – Tax Reference Manual