Tax on Food (Altamont: construction, high income, property taxes)

[LauraC]

This may seem like a stupid question but I really don't know the answer. Do National chains charge the same price in every town/state? I've heard, for example, that you can go out and eat more cheaply in Tennessee. So let's take a restaurant like Outback for example? Not counting tax, if I ate at Outback in NY and ordered the same meal at Outback in Oak Ridge, TN, would the meals cost the same?

If I went grocery shopping at Food Lion and bought 6 lbs of ground sirloin in Maryland, would I pay the same for it at a Food Lion in Tennessee?

If the answer is yes, they would charge the same, then I would have to think they aren't basing their prices on a lower cost state like Tennessee and you might be better off shopping/eating at a non-chain if you lived in Tennessee. Whereas, if you lived in NY, for example, the chain restarant/supermarket would offer you a better deal for the area's cost of living.

If the chains have different prices, depending on the location, then it shouldn't matter all that much whether you shop at a chain or non-chain establishment.

Anyone know?

[maryn]

in FLA food is not taxed in the grocery store. if it is a necessity food like lettuce. if it is candy, which we do not not need to nourish the body, it is taxable. milk, not taxed....i have found that in my travels, chains charge the same. youre not going to go to MD's in TN and find it to be less.

[insanesmooch]

Somethings may be priced the same, but not all things. I've not been around everywhere to compare prices. I can tell you examples of what I have seen. One example is while in Knoxville earlier this year, Kroger had milk on sale 2 for $5 about everyother week. The tri-cities Kroger is in a different region within the Kroger Company and I don't think I've seen it on sale for that price yet. Usually it is about $3 something (at various stores around).
I also know that when we went to NC about a month or so ago the prices at Harris Teeter were higher (on a variety of items). I had a coupon for free dog food that I did not use because their price exceeded the coupon limit. Here it was much lower than the allowed amount for the coupon.
I've not really paid much attention to prices in some of the larger sit down restaurants we've been in. I do know that fast food places, like McDonald's prices can vary depending on what part of town you are in. Maybe part of that is because they franchise stores. Usually in bigger cities it is expensive to even eat there.

[hiknapster]

The prices are NOT the same, depending on where you live. It is the same for retail chains such as K-Mart and WalMart. It has been that way for decades.

Good question. Not stupid.

Didn't you know that there are no stupid questions?

[JMT]

I've found that prices vary even in the same town. There are two Subways within a mile of my house in Knoxville, and they don't have the same prices. If I want a roast beef sub I go to one of them, if I want a turkey sub I'll go to the other one. It's frustrating.

[LauraC]

Well, thanks everybody. Actually it's good to know that the prices match the areas...well except for JMT who apparently lives on the fast food border line in Knoxville.

[hiknapster]

Well, at least JMT has a plan.

I am easily confused by such big decisions and end up bringing a South beach frozen dinner from home!

[florida_native]

Originally Posted by texasdude

Milk is $2.45 a gallon no tax and gas now is $2.25 a gallon.BBBBBBBBBBut its Florida.

I miss not having taxes on food. TN needs to adopt that too.

[I_Brennus]

Tax on food is a foriegn concept to me. 9.75% is obscene. There really are people in this country that exist in poverty. That tax could be the difference between being able to afford something to feed your kid or your kid going hungry. We don't have a tax on consumable items in Michigan but there have still been many occasions in the last two years that I was very thankfull for for the generous bag limit that we have during deer season. I couldn't imagine paying nearly 10% on food.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by I_Brennus

Tax on food is a foriegn concept to me. 9.75% is obscene. There really are people in this country that exist in poverty. That tax could be the difference between being able to afford something to feed your kid or your kid going hungry. We don't have a tax on consumable items in Michigan but there have still been many occasions in the last two years that I was very thankfull for for the generous bag limit that we have during deer season. I couldn't imagine paying nearly 10% on food.

But what if the items were 10% cheaper so in essence, you were paying the same thing?

Not knowing where in Michigan you live, I compared Warren, Michigan with Chattanooga, TN on Food (doesn't include eating out) costs (updated Nov 2005) on the Sperlings website. I chose Warren because the 2000 population (City Data) was the closest I could find to Chattanooga (130,000 - 160,000 range).

With a national average score of 100 for food costs, Warren got a 107.3 and Chattanooga got a 101.8.

Detroit, by the way got a 107.9.

I tried a food cost comparison again with two smaller places in the 50,000 to 60,000 population range: Battle Creek and Johnson City. With a national average score of 100, Battle Creek got a score of 100.4 and Johnson City got a score of 91.1.

I started to think about it and then I realized, I don't know anything about these places and other factors (other than population) could impact food costs but we can say if you moved from big city Warren, Michigan to much smaller Johnson City, TN for example, you'd see a big difference in the price you paid for food (for the better) even with the sales tax in Tennessee.

Think about doing that comparison on other costs (where you live now to where you are going).