Some states have strange and varied sale taxes. No tax on unprepared food in PA, no tax on paper plates, but there is a sales tax on regular reusable plates. In PA there is no tax on candy, when my ex wife ran a retail store in DC, the sales tax differred according to what the item was. There was a special higher sales tax on candy, (10% as I recall. When in Virginia, there was sales tax on restaurant meals and carry out, but some counties had additional sales taxes on such food. So if I purchased a meal at the McDonalds a few blocks from my house there was a 12% sales tax, but across the intersection at the Popeyes (another county) the tax was only 5% In Virginia, IRRC, there is a general 5% sales tax, but towns can have add on sales taxes, so on Chincoteague island the minimum sales tax is 10%, higher for restaurants and motels. So folks who live there go off island to buy big ticket items.