Shouldn't the yellow just be grey? If the tax was eliminated, and the grey states have no tax, isn't that the same thing today?
Basically yellow is grey, and the blue ones will soon be grey.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2025
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Grey means never had it possibly? Yellow means had it recently / in the past, and blue means getting rid of the tax.
This is a trick right?. Many of these states that they say have no grocery sales tax actually have a local tax on groceries. North Carolina for example has no statewide tax but has a uniform 2% local grocery tax.
Grocery is also loose. I'm in GA, anything processed has normal taxes. Produce and other ingredients has "lower" taxes because the statewide default doesn't apply. But it's still like 3% or in my area.
Taxing medicine and food is fucking obscene. At least Florida gets that much right.
In my country we have a flat 25 % tax on anything sold to an end consumer (there are some exceptions). It's often mentioned as the most important tax we have to equalise the economy and finance the welfare state.
The point is that, because it's a flat rate, you end up paying more the more money you have. If you only buy cheap groceries, that 25 % isn't a huge amount of cash, while if you buy an expensive boat or car, it becomes quite a bit. This turns out to be a great way of ensuring that anyone who wants to "live rich" pays a decent amount for it.
you end up paying more the more money you have.
No, you pay the more you spend. This incentivizes hoarding wealth in investments.
Flat taxes are regressive. The poor pay a much larger percentage of their disposable income because necessities are a larger percentage of their income.
If someone makes $1k a month and it costs $1k a month to live, how is it fair that we charge them the same amount of tax as someone who makes $2k and spends $1k to live? We're forcing that first person to suffer so the second person can hoard.
Thanks for adding this, most people don't understand that flat taxes hurt poor people more.
Also, essentials for survival really shouldnt be taxed at all in my opinion.
The point is that, because it's a flat rate, you end up paying more the more money you have.
The rich dont spend much of their money on consumer goods. They spend most of their money on investments, financial services, etc.
So when you and I spend nearly 100% of our money on consumer goods, we are paying 25% of our income in taxes. But the richest among us, whose consumer spending amounts to 10% (or less) of their earnings, pays just 2.5% of their income on taxes.
Flat rate taxes on consumer spending are wildly regressive.
Any sales tax like that is a tax on poor people primarily. Don't be fooled.
Holy shit, what a fucking awful take
In the EU, there are typically three levels of VAT, with members having some leeway to choose which applies to what.
Health services, public transport, rentals/housing and education are often exempt, while most groceries and medications are at a reduced rate. eg. Germany has 7% and 19% as the reduced and normal rates.
Income taxes are additional and (in most EU countries progressive). Social insurances are often separate, and similarly progressive.
This works alongside the basic welfare nets, which ensures that people have just enough to survive if they fell through the cracks. Without this net, even the reduced rates on groceries would seem punitive.
Not every EU country is equal, but there is a goal to provide these societal safety nets alongside fair taxation, which is invested back in society.
Ahhh Missouri, where they are getting rid of income tax but force regressive sales tax on poor people.
Illinois is just getting rid of the State tax, but many of the towns/counties are bringing it back anyway.
What is grey, then?
I believe those never had a sales tax on groceries, at least at the state level.
Only place it makes sense is Hawaii because it's all shipped in and there's not enough land to supply local stuff to everybody.
What's the relationship between sales tax and shipping?
Only if the shipping is subsidized by taxes, so they get somehow recovered by the tax
Shipping is paid by the grocery store.
Sales tax are livied by the state.
I can see taxing finished goods (hamburger helper) but not raw goods (apples, carrots). Is this the case in some of these states?
Yeah, kind of. I live in Minnesota and here raw ingredients, and essential food items are untaxed. Prepared foods, candy, soda and anything "non-essential" are taxed normally.
This is more or less how it works in Texas. Or at least the last time I paid attention to it I’d did. Potatoes are not taxed but chips are.