Never figured out why,in any location,there should ever be a sales tax on necessities. It is just plain WRONG. Here,we have sales tax on clothing, but not on food except prepared food. Food,shelter & clothing are the absolute necessities no matter where you live. What did these states do when there was no sales tax anywhere? Or there was no state income tax? My guess is that they did something that they need to be practicing now....less spending.
When I worked in retail years ago I learned that my state had a complicated way of assessing sales tax that bordered on bizarre. Necessities were not subject to sales tax, but the definition of a “necessity” changed over time. Someone determined that a telephone was a necessity because everyone must have the means to call 911, but anything beyond that was a luxury. So a plain phone had no sales tax on it, but a phone with an answering machine was taxed. Go figure.
Taxation is theft.