I heard last week that the Liquor Control Board (LCB) and Tacoma PD worked together to shut down a party thrown by a group of under/overground show organizers. These folks throw some of the best arts events in Tacoma — consistently and proudly.

At a recent semi-underground event, an undercover officer from the Liquor Control Board did a little rooting, found something they didn’t like, and called the local police. Tacoma PD arrived in force, took all the liquor in the place, and more importantly all the money — including the money taken for admissions.

Done.

From a legal standpoint, it sounds like everything happened by the books. The proverbial state knows what it can and can’t get away with. There probably won’t be a lawsuit. And there will probably be more underground shows like the one that got shut down.

Let’s just move on, shall we?

No. No we shouldn’t just move on. I’m tired of seeing people squashed by The State. I’m tired of watching artists and event organizers and business owners turn tail like a seahorse every time some governing institution decides to sweep them out of existence. I mean sure — they probably violated some law. In this case, the laws violated were designed to ensure that the LCB gets what it considers its fair share of liquor sales.

See, the state Liquor Control Board is hurting. The state legislature cannibalized about $79 million of its budget this past session to shore up the horrific state budget deficits. The LCB quickly and unilaterally voted to increase the price of liquor to make up the difference. As of August, all that liquor costs about 15 percent more, and all of the money generated by the increase goes directly to the LCB.

Buy a bottle from the average liquor store — a state-run institution — and nearly 75 percent of the cost goes to the state in the form of taxes and price markup. The state often makes more from the sale of a bottle of liquor than the manufacturer does. Meanwhile, the LCB has its own private police force that makes sure resellers are following the rules and paying excise taxes, which are levied over and above state markups.

Let’s be honest — this is about keeping the beast alive, and funding an entrenched bureaucracy left over from the prohibition era.

And they’re not the only ones stepping up enforcement measures to make up the difference.

Government institutions are experts at keeping their budgets level, and they don’t have any problem eating a few — or a few hundred — businesses or smaller, private institutions to do it. State, county and city governments are HUNGRY right now. And when they get hungry, they go on the hunt.

Be on your toes, folks. Know the laws and play by the rules, or be sure that your underground events stay truly underground.

You could be next.