Alcohol tax by state
Alcohol tax is charged long before a bottle reaches the shelf, so it never shows on a receipt. Beer, wine and spirits are taxed at completely different rates. And seventeen states do not really tax spirits at all — they sell them, running the wholesale trade themselves and taking the profit. Those states are marked below.
State alcohol excise per gallon, by beverage. ⛔ Control states — where the state holds the wholesale monopoly — are marked and are NOT ranked against license states: their published rate omits the margin the state earns as wholesaler, so the comparison comes out flattering and wrong. ⚠️ Rates are specific rather than ad valorem and are levied upstream, so they are embedded in shelf price and compound with any sales tax applied at retail.
Browse states
Every state, by the rate on spirits
| State | Beer | Wine | Spirits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $0.26 | $0.87 | $37 |
| Oregon · control state | $0.08 | $0.67 | $24 |
| Virginia · control state | $0.26 | $1.51 | $23 |
| Alabama · control state | $0.53 | $1.70 | $23 |
| North Carolina · control state | $0.62 | $1 | $18 |
| Utah · control state | $0.44 | n/a | $16 |
| Iowa · control state | $0.19 | $1.75 | $15 |
| Michigan · control state | $0.20 | $0.51 | $15 |
| Idaho · control state | $0.15 | $0.45 | $13 |
| Alaska | $1.07 | $2.50 | $13 |
| Ohio · control state | $0.18 | $0.32 | $12 |
| Maine · control state | $0.35 | $0.60 | $12 |
| Montana · control state | $0.14 | $1.06 | $11 |
| Arkansas | $0.37 | $1.50 | $9.76 |
| Kentucky | $0.89 | $3.82 | $9.56 |
| Mississippi · control state | $0.43 | n/a | $9.38 |
| Vermont · control state | $0.27 | $0.55 | $9.06 |
| West Virginia · control state | $0.18 | $1 | $8.98 |
| Minnesota | $0.47 | $1.25 | $8.74 |
| Illinois | $0.23 | $1.39 | $8.55 |
| Pennsylvania · control state | $0.08 | n/a | $7.48 |
| District of Columbia | $0.79 | $2.07 | $6.68 |
| Florida | $0.48 | $2.25 | $6.50 |
| New York | $0.14 | $0.30 | $6.44 |
| New Mexico | $0.41 | $1.70 | $6.06 |
| Hawaii | $0.93 | $1.38 | $5.98 |
| Connecticut | $0.19 | $0.79 | $5.94 |
| Oklahoma | $0.40 | $0.72 | $5.56 |
| New Jersey | $0.12 | $0.88 | $5.50 |
| Maryland | $0.60 | $1.64 | $5.46 |
| South Carolina | $0.77 | $1.08 | $5.42 |
| Rhode Island | $0.12 | $1.40 | $5.40 |
| North Dakota | $0.43 | $1.17 | $4.93 |
| South Dakota | $0.27 | $1.44 | $4.93 |
| Delaware | $0.26 | $1.63 | $4.50 |
| Tennessee | $1.29 | $1.27 | $4.46 |
| Massachusetts | $0.11 | $0.55 | $4.05 |
| Georgia | $0.48 | $1.51 | $3.79 |
| Nebraska | $0.31 | $0.95 | $3.75 |
| Nevada | $0.16 | $0.70 | $3.60 |
| California | $0.20 | $0.20 | $3.30 |
| Wisconsin | $0.06 | $0.25 | $3.25 |
| Louisiana | $0.40 | $0.76 | $3.03 |
| Arizona | $0.16 | $0.84 | $3 |
| Indiana | $0.12 | $0.47 | $2.68 |
| Kansas | $0.18 | $0.30 | $2.50 |
| Texas | $0.19 | $0.20 | $2.40 |
| Colorado | $0.08 | $0.32 | $2.28 |
| Missouri | $0.06 | $0.42 | $2 |
| New Hampshire · control state | $0.30 | n/a | $0 |
| Wyoming · control state | $0.02 | n/a | $0 |
Source: Tax Foundation 2026 Beer/Wine/Distilled Spirits tax tables (source: DISCUS; state DORs/statutes) · as of 2026-01-01 ·check it yourself