>>But "essentials" to whom? Who is the judge of what is and what is NOT "essential"? And no, one size doesn't fit all!<<
Your local food stamp office has kindly already sorted this out for you.
It doesn't really matter though. Say you get back a $500 dollar "prebate", and spend $500 on food/clothes/whatever. You have essentially paid no taxes if you spend your money wisely. If you go out and buy a car every 3-4 months (as some of my coworkers do), you're going to contribute a whole lot of taxes.
You know people who buy a new car every 3 or 4 months? I find that difficult to believe.
You want everyone to try to subsist on food stamp allotments and you think that it a great idea to tax food?