Liquor Seller’s Tax Case Gets Icy Response From Washington Panel

Three Washington judges seemed skeptical of a liquor wholesaler’s challenge to the state’s tax treatment of amounts it received when brands including Bacardi and Stoli revoked distribution rights at oral arguments Wednesday.

Young’s Market Co. of Washington LLC told the Washington Court of Appeals, Division I, that more than $20 million the brands’ new supplier paid it from 2014 to 2016 isn’t compensation for business activity and therefore isn’t subject to the state’s business and occupation tax. The Department of Revenue argued the $315,000 assessment on those amounts should stand.

Judge Leonard Feldman struggled with the company’s argument that the ...