The Journal News: Raising the Sales Tax, for Better or Worse
media mentionThe downside, not expressed by City Hall, is that sales taxes are regressive — meaning they hurt the poorest citizens the most. That’s because the tax, obviously, only applies to money spent and not money saved. Since the poor tend to save little or not all, they take a greater financial hit.
According to a study released earlier this year by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the average sales tax is similar to an income tax rate of 7 percent for the poor, 4.7 percent for the middle class and 0.8 percent for the wealthy.