Would You Like Tax Exemptions with that? How Food Exemptions Under State Sales Tax are Not Reaching Lower Income Communities in Food Deserts

Abstract

This paper contributes to the ongoing analysis of tax law and its effects on marginalized communities by exploring the historical underpinnings of the sales tax and its influence on the modern existence of food deserts. The author argues that the narrow statutory definition of “food” exemptions in various state tax codes fails to relieve the regressive nature of sales tax for communities without access to grocery stores and proposes a number of models for relieving this inadequacy.