My Thesis is that the NJ Sales Tax is not regressive because it does tax luxury or non-essential items and essential items are exempt.
So while the NJ sales tax does not tax groceries, clothing, and prescription medication, it does tax many items that people buy almost everyday that are not essential but people buy anyway. An example of this would be a daily trip to a convenience store for a cup of coffee. This cup of coffee is considered a non-essential item,so it is taxed. According to the NJ Sales Tax Guide, a cup of coffee bought ready to drink is taxable. Let’s say that cup of coffee costs $1, the current 7% tax adds the cost to $1.07. So after buying a cup of coffee every day the amount of tax one pays can add up over time, after 15 days the tax adds up to over $1. For someone who works two low wage jobs, that cup of coffee can prevent them from falling asleep on the job, so in a way the NJ sales tax does tax an essential item for people. Though they can avoid paying the sales tax if they buy coffee beans and brew their own coffee. So if someone brews their own coffee at home, they are avoiding the sales tax.
Another example of the sales tax taxing something that can be essential is labor. The State of New Jersey generally writes memos that makes it easy for consumers and people who own a business to know what is taxable and not taxable. In one memo, the State Division of Taxation says that labor like maintenance or landscaping are subject to the sales tax. So if a family is in desperate need of a new floor or had damage done due to a natural disaster, then they are paying a tax. But insurance premiums are not taxed, so the family can buy home insurance to avoid paying the sales tax. Paying for insurance in general is better than having to pay the costs completely out of pocket. The insurance company will pay for the labor and materials.
While this may not be an issue now as much as it may have been twenty or thirty years ago, but the sales tax does tax tobacco products, which many people still use today. Some people struggling with nicotine addiction may say that cigarettes are essential for them. While the State of New Jersey not only makes tobacco subject to the sales tax, the State sets minimum prices on a pack of twenty cigarettes. According the an article from the State Division of Taxation there is a minimum price that a retailer can sell a pack of cigarettes for. It is an obvious fact that one does not need cigarettes to survive. So the sales tax should be applied to tobacco, but nicotine gum is exempt. A person who is trying to quit smoking can buy nicotine gum, which is tax free.
Works Cited
“NJ Sales Tax Guide.” (n.d.): n. pag. 2006.
NJ Division of Taxation – S & U Tax: Home Improvements.” NJ Division of Taxation – S & U Tax: Home Improvements. N.p., 20 Oct. 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2016. b. 13 Nov. 2016.
NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF TAXATION MINIMUM LEGAL PRICES ON CIGARETTES AS OF AUGUST 2, 2016 (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
Rowan Counterintuitive 
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—DSH
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Hey, Philly. First, please consider this post a standalone essay. Readers won’t know about your other posts. They won’t have read your White Paper or have any anticipation of your premises or your point of view. The first words they read will be the first words of yours they’ve ever read. Those facts should make a difference in how you introduce your material.
Moving on.
Here’s what you say about your thesis and, presumably, the argument you wish to refute:
Presumably, somewhere in there are your essential position and an “opposing” point of view. If so, you apparently DEFINE a regressive tax as one that taxes essentials. Is that your definition? There doesn’t seem to be any other way to read it. Taxes on milk, socks, heating oil, and bus passes would be regressive. A tax on top-shelf vodka, self-lacing Nike sneakers, yacht air conditioning, and BMWs and would not be regressive.
But that leaves SO MUCH room in between to argue about. Between milk and vodka, are beverages like chocolate milk, sweetened fruit drinks, and bottled water essential foods? Between socks and prestige sneakers, are high heeled pumps essential? Between heating oil and air for the yacht, is home air conditioning essential in Houston? in Maine? Between bus passes and BMWs, are economy cars essential? Where’s the cutoff price at which cars should become taxable to avoid being regressive? And if I’m allowed to buy an economy car without sales tax, can I avoid the tax on labor and parts to repair that car? I can’t today. If the car’s essential, shouldn’t maintaining it safely also be exempt?
Maybe you mean instead that a tax is only regressive if it can’t be avoided. In which case, taxes on cars could probably be avoided in any town with public transportation. But does that make sense to anyone whose bus commute to the best available job takes four hours round trip?
I think the strongest refutation to the argument about “essential item” exemptions is that taxing only “non-essential” goods and services doesn’t prevent a tax from being regressive. The true definition of a regressive tax, unless I misunderstand this topic completely, is that it places a bigger (therefore unfair) burden on people with comparatively smaller incomes. In other words, it costs a larger percentage of the income of poor people than rich people. Isn’t that a fair definition?
To argue that people with smaller incomes COULD MAKE DIFFERENT CHOICES doesn’t mean the tax is less regressive, even if it does mean that individuals COULD REDUCE the disparity that makes the tax regressive by making different buying choices. Then you could offer the remedies for reducing the amount of tax incurred on “non-essential” purchases.
Does this help?
—DSH
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