Sales Taxes on Food

Anthony E. Gallo and James A. Zellner

Food Review/ National Food Review, 1980, vol. NFR 10, issue 01

Abstract: The general sales tax in effect last year in 45 States and the District of Columbia' was the most important source of revenue for about one-fourth of these jurisdictions. In 1977, about I of every 6 tax dollars collected by States and localities came from the general sales tax, slightly more than from income taxes but less than from property taxes. Twenty-five of the States with a sales tax plus the District of Columbia exempt food for home consumption (food at home), and six States, including two with food exemptions, provide for a credit against income taxes. The sales tax is a popular source of revenue largely because it can be efficiently collected and is not easily avoided. Some critics argue that while it is an efficient revenue generator, the sales tax-and especially the food sales tax-is inequitable because higher income individuals can more easily page than those with lower incomes.

Keywords: Consumer/Household; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1980
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/281078/files/Gallo%201.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersfr:281078

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.281078

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Food Review/ National Food Review from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().