Liquor taxes by state range from an apparent $0.00 per gallon in a handful of jurisdictions to $36.98 per gallon in Washington, but that headline number leaves out most of what you actually pay. A bottle of spirits carries a federal excise tax, a state excise tax or a state-run markup, and usually state and local sales tax at the register. The map you find online almost always shows only one of those layers.
State Excise Tax Rates, Ranked
Washington sits at the top of the country at $36.98 per gallon, more than eighteen times Missouri’s $2.00 per gallon.1Tax Foundation. Distilled Spirits Taxes by State, 2025 Here is how 2025 rates break down by tier:
- Above $20 per gallon: Washington ($36.98), Virginia ($23.47), Alabama ($22.87), Oregon ($22.86)
- $10 to $20 per gallon: North Carolina ($18.23), Utah ($16.07), Iowa ($15.14), Michigan ($14.61), Idaho ($12.94), Alaska ($12.80), Ohio ($12.33), Maine ($11.93), Montana ($10.55)
- $5 to $10 per gallon: Kentucky ($9.56), Arkansas ($9.47), Vermont ($9.06), West Virginia ($8.98), Mississippi ($8.88), Minnesota ($8.74), Illinois ($8.55), Pennsylvania ($7.48), District of Columbia ($6.68), Florida ($6.50), New York ($6.44), New Mexico ($6.06), Hawaii ($5.98), Connecticut ($5.94), Oklahoma ($5.56), New Jersey ($5.50), Maryland ($5.46), South Carolina ($5.42), Rhode Island ($5.40)
- Under $5 per gallon: North Dakota ($4.93), South Dakota ($4.93), Delaware ($4.50), Tennessee ($4.46), Massachusetts ($4.05), Georgia ($3.79), Nebraska ($3.75), Nevada ($3.60), California ($3.30), Wisconsin ($3.25), Louisiana ($3.03), Arizona ($3.00), Indiana ($2.68), Kansas ($2.50), Texas ($2.40), Colorado ($2.28), Missouri ($2.00)
Two states, Wyoming and New Hampshire, don’t appear on this ladder because their effective excise rate is $0.00 per gallon. That doesn’t mean spirits are untaxed there. It means the tax is collected a different way.
Why Some States Show $0.00
Seventeen jurisdictions use a “control” model where the government itself acts as the wholesaler for distilled spirits, and thirteen of those also run the retail stores or designate agents to sell for them.2National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. Control State Directory and Info Instead of charging private wholesalers a per-gallon excise tax, the state buys spirits at wholesale, adds a markup, and sells at the marked-up price. That markup is functionally a tax, but it doesn’t convert cleanly into a dollars-per-gallon figure, so many maps show these states as blank or zero.
Pennsylvania is a clear example: the state has historically applied a 30% markup on top of the wholesale cost, plus an 18% additional tax. Wyoming and New Hampshire, both control states, collect through markup rather than excise, which is why they appear untaxed on the map.
Some control states do show a number on the map, but it is a calculated equivalent, not a literal excise rate. Virginia’s $23.47, Alabama’s $22.87, Oregon’s $22.86, and Ohio’s $12.33 all reflect what the state’s markup and fees would equal if converted to a per-gallon charge. Comparing those figures directly to a license state’s true excise rate isn’t quite apples to apples.
The rest of the country uses a license model. Private wholesalers pay a per-gallon excise tax to the state’s revenue department based on the volume they distribute, and that number is what you see on the map.
The Federal Excise Tax Under Every Bottle
Regardless of state, every bottle produced in or imported into the United States carries a federal excise tax of $13.50 per proof gallon.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5001 – Imposition, Rate, and Attachment of Tax A proof gallon is one gallon of spirits at 50% alcohol by volume, so a higher-proof bottle carries proportionally more federal tax. Producers and importers remit this to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau before the product ever reaches a wholesaler or a state-run store.
Smaller producers pay less. Under the Craft Beverage Modernization Act, made permanent in 2020, the federal rate is tiered:4Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Tax Reform – Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA)
- $2.70 per proof gallon on the first 100,000 proof gallons removed or imported per calendar year
- $13.34 per proof gallon on the next 22.13 million proof gallons
- $13.50 per proof gallon on everything above 22.23 million proof gallons
The first tier is roughly 20% of the standard rate, which is why a bottle from a small craft distiller can carry noticeably less federal tax than one from a large producer.
Sales Tax at the Register
Neither the excise tax nor the federal tax is the last layer. Forty-five states charge a state sales tax, and 38 of those let local jurisdictions add their own on top, with combined rates reaching as high as 10% in some areas.5Tax Foundation. State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2026 Some states apply a special alcohol sales tax above the general rate. Because sales tax is calculated on price rather than volume, it hits premium bottles harder: a $50 bottle at 10% pays $5 in retail tax, while a $15 bottle pays $1.50, even though both hold the same amount of liquid.
Five states charge no general sales tax at all: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Several of those are control states that recoup revenue through the markup instead.
What the Receipt Actually Shows
Adding the layers together tells a different story than the map alone. A 750ml bottle of 80-proof vodka bought in Washington carries the federal $13.50 per proof gallon, the state’s $36.98 per gallon excise rate, and combined state and local sales tax that averages over 9%. A bottle bought in a control state with a $0.00 excise line can end up costing just as much once the markup is priced in, because the markup is doing the same work the excise tax does elsewhere.
Price differences this large drive consumer behavior at state lines, which is part of why New Hampshire places its state-run liquor stores along major interstate highways. If you’re comparing what spirits actually cost across states, the map is a starting point. The number that tells the truth is on the receipt.