It wouldn't be that difficult. Lots of states that have sales tax don't tax food. Simply make the essentials untaxed or any product of a particular category under a particular price untaxed. We have these measures in the current system. If you earn under $6,000 you pay no tax.
The benefit is that you take the burden off the individual and leave it all to computers. There's a "Taxable" flag and the equation is simple. IF (item.category == Food or price < (select minprice from categorylimits where categorylimits.category = item.category)) then tax = 0 else tax = 0.25 * item.price
The benefit is that you take the burden off the individual and leave it all to computers. There's a "Taxable" flag and the equation is simple. IF (item.category == Food or price < (select minprice from categorylimits where categorylimits.category = item.category)) then tax = 0 else tax = 0.25 * item.price
Done. What a beautiful world that would be.