>When comparing liquor prices between Washington and California across all store types, the latter’s prices were 24.1% lower for 750 mL containers and 29.6% lower for 1.75 L. Washington has the highest spirit tax rate of any U.S. state and tax differences likely explain the price differences between the two states. Researchers chose California as the comparative state as it allows liquor sales in similar store types and has the same large licensed chain stores such as BevMo, Costco, and Safeway.

https://arg.org/news/liquor_prices_continue_to_grow/

>https://www.seattletimes.com/business/in-aftermath-of-liquor-privatization-spirits-everywhere-not-cheap/

>Data posted by the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, indicates that Washington residents pay about $35.22 per gallon in spirits taxes, about $8.52 more than before privatization, even though Washington already was the state that taxed liquor the most.

It costs the business $8.52 more to sell the product than it cost the state to sell the same product. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that prices would be higher.