People across the country will pop bottles of champagne at midnight tonight to celebrate the new year. The question is, how much is the government raining on your New Year’s parade with champagne taxes?
The Wine Institute has a list of the excise taxes on sparkling wines in each state. If you’re celebrating New Year’s in Florida, you’ll be paying a lot extra for your champagne. Florida taxes sparkling wine at $3.50 per gallon, the highest rate in the nation. That’s a dollar more than the second-highest state, Alaska.
Recommended Stories
Revellers in Times Square, or anywhere else in New York State, will pay one of the lowest champagne taxes in the country: $0.30 per gallon. California and Kansas charge the same tax. Wisconsin charges the smallest champagne tax in the country, at just $0.25 per gallon.
In the Washington D.C. area, Virginians will pay the highest tax on their champagne, at $1.51 per gallon. The rates in the District of Columbia and Maryland are nearly equal, at $0.45 and $0.40 per gallon.
Interestingly, 14 states and the District of Columbia have different tax rates for sparkling wines than table wines.
See the graphic below from the Tax Foundation to find out how much your state taxes champagne. While New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Utah don’t charge an excise tax, they do collect other types of taxes on champagne.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
