[Occupymendocino] Rising-inequality-creates-a-new-poor-people-tax-at-the-grocery-store

[John]

I don't use tobacco, haven't for 25 years, but adding $2 per pack tax
bothers me. It hits those who can least afford it the hardest. Double the
tax on yachts and I won't quibble, but get rid of taxes on products the poor
purchase.

 

 

From: occupymendocino-bounces at lists.mcn.org
[mailto:occupymendocino-bounces at lists.mcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Karch
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2016 3:08 PM
To: occupymendocino at lists.mcn.org
Subject: [Occupymendocino]
Rising-inequality-creates-a-new-poor-people-tax-at-the-grocery-store

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/05/20/1528889/-Rising-inequality-creates-
a-new-poor-people-tax-at-the-grocery-store?detail=email
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/05/20/1528889/-Rising-inequality-creates
-a-new-poor-people-tax-at-the-grocery-store?detail=email&link_id=19&can_id=9
77dbddaeb03416d8c9bff93998b05cd&source=email-donald-trumpa-psychiatrists-opi
nion-and-concerns&email_referrer=donald-trumpa-psychiatrists-opinion-and-con
cerns&email_subject=donald-trump-a-psychiatrists-opinion-and-concerns>
&link_id=19&can_id=977dbddaeb03416d8c9bff93998b05cd&source=email-donald-trum
pa-psychiatrists-opinion-and-concerns&email_referrer=donald-trumpa-psychiatr
ists-opinion-and-concerns&email_subject=donald-trump-a-psychiatrists-opinion
-and-concerns

 

Poor people get hit with higher prices on basic purchases because they often
live in neighborhoods without supermarkets and have to pay convenience store
prices-or because they can't afford to take advantage of sales and stock up
on discounted products. It's pretty well-known that these are ways it's
expensive to be poor (by people who care to know, at least, as Republicans
seem well able to stay ignorant). But a Harvard graduate student's research
finds that the premium poor people pay
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/20/the-poor-pay-more-fo
r-everyday-purchases-and-its-getting-worse-a-new-study-warns/>  on everyday
retail goods goes still further. Xavier Jaravel:

. has found that prices are increasing by more than 2 percent a year on
average for goods purchased by consumers with household incomes under
$30,000, but by just 1.4 percent annually for those with incomes above
$100,000. 

Why would that be? According to Jaravel, it starts with the fact that we all
might buy the same basic category of product, but we don't all buy the exact
same thing. Higher-income people buy premium brands, and Jaravel:

. found that relatively few new products made it into stores that weren't
premium goods. In other words, poorer consumers were more likely to be
buying the same products from year to the next.

When a new product arrives on shelves, retailers typically have to discount
the price of older products ...

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