The NJ Sales Tax is Not Regressive
Hypothesis: The current 7% sales tax in the State of New Jersey is not a regressive tax on the poor and is a fair tax for everyone, so it should not be lowered.
Proposal: There is no need to lower the New Jersey sales tax. This is a tax on luxury items which it is fair for the government to tax. Many basic necessities are tax free, so the sales tax does not hurt the working poor people of New Jersey. Under a current bill passing through the New Jersey legislature, the sales tax would be decreased to 6.875% in 2017 and then to 6.625% in 2018. This is a tax on luxury and non-essential items, the current 7% seems appropriate.
Source #1
Sales Tax Exemptions for Groceries
Essential Content of Article: This article is mostly a map that shows which states exempt groceries from the sales tax. New Jersey is listed as a State where groceries are completely exempt from the sales tax. This only applies to unprepared food. Some examples of this include: canned soup, canned, raw, or frozen vegetables, milk, bottled water, and any non-prepared food. Soda is not exempt, because it is non-essential.
What it Proves: This proves that any food that someone cannot live without is not taxed at all. This tax does place an extra burden on the poor. People with low income are not paying a tax on items they need to survive, so lowering the sales tax would not save them money at all.
Source #2
Essential Content of Article: On January 1st, 2017 the sales tax in NJ will decrease by .125% and then on January 1st, 2018 the sales will decrease by .25%. These sales tax decreases will not lower prices at all for the poor. Calling this a tax cut for the poor is ridiculous because people who can only afford to buy necessities are not paying the tax regardless and even those who do buy luxury items are saving very few pennies.
What it Proves: Lowering the sales tax by such a small amount is doing nothing. This will hardly save people money when they pay the tax at a restaurant or on a luxury item. If someone goes to the Wawa and buys a $1 coffee after the sales tax decreases, they will pay seven cents sales tax because the percentage will be rounded up.
Source #3
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/9_facts_on_the_nj_sales_tax_which_may_be_going_dow.html
Essential Content of Article: The State of New Jersey exempts clothing from the sales tax. So clothes are cheaper in New Jersey that in a State that taxes clothes. Everybody needs to buy clothes, so it is considered an essential item. So this tax does not affect the poor who need to buy clothes
What it Proves: This article is just another example of how the New Jersey sales tax is not regressive. Clothes are necessary for everyone to have and winters can be cold in New Jersey so everyone has to stay warm.
Source #4
Click to access sales_and_use%20tax.pdf
Essential Content of Article: While many items are exempt from the New Jersey sales tax, this article provides a list of non-exempt items. Some of these items include: alcoholic beverages, balloons, pet food, candy, tobacco, and many more non-essential items.
What it Proves: All of the items listed above are non-essential items. None of those items are necessary for a human to survive so there is a tax added on to them. So the sales tax on these items is not hurting low income people because there is no added tax on what they need to survive.
Source #5
NJ Raising Gas Tax 23 Cents to End Road Funding Crisis
Essential Content of Article: Under a bill that the New Jersey Assembly, New Jersey Senate, and Governor Chris Christie have agreed on, the sales tax will become 6.875% on January 1st, 2017 and 6.625% on January 1st, 2018. These politicians think they are helping the poor but they are not making any difference to the average or even poor person in New Jersey. Since the sales tax is not applicable to basic necessities, it is not helping the poor or middle class by lowering it by less than .5%.
What it Proves: This articles proves that sometimes politicians like to say they lowered taxes on people, but the tax is so small it will not save people a lot of money. The poor should not pay sales tax regardless and the middle to upper class will saves pennies on the dollar.
Source 6
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items
Rowan Counterintuitive 
Fix your categories, PhillyFan
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Also, please title your work correctly so we can find it.
We need the Assignment—Username title for navigation.
You add your custom title inside the text box, like so:
http://wp.me/a7Sh1z-23A
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Also, for sources 1 and 5, I have produced legible links to replace the long http strings. I’ll be happy to demonstrate the technique for making these in class if you ask.
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Arguing that a sales tax is not regressive is a worthy goal, PhillyFan. These five sources won’t quite prove it, but they indicate you’re thinking objectively about the question. Your thesis contains a premise that not everyone will agree with: if a tax is not regressive, it should not be lowered. That’s hard to applaud on its merits alone. Maybe you mean something more complex. I’ll be following your progress with interest.
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