Sounds like we are just talking semantics. When you buy liquor, you pay the market price (call it $10) plus an excise tax that the government adds on (let's sa

Sounds like we are just talking semantics. When you buy liquor, you pay the market price (call it $10) plus an excise tax that the government adds on (let's say $2). Imagine the government nationalizes the liquor business. The buy up every liquor company, and continue operating them the same way as before ($10 price + $2 tax). I think anyone would agree that this $2 would still be considered a tax. Now let's say the government gets rid of the $2 tax, but bumps the price of liquor up to $12. The tax is still there, it's just implicit now.