General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Outraged Welfare Punishes Work and Saps Dignity From the Desperately Poor? Please Sign My Petition! [View all]gvstn
(2,805 posts)I live in a sate that has no State sales tax. So I barely understand exemptions from sales tax on the premise of being a "necessity". But some states actually tax toothpaste and toilet paper as non-essential items on grocery store lists. Almost all Sates consider soap a luxury as per tax law.
It is true you could get away without buying toilet paper and use cloths instead. But you might use 8-12 cloths on a bad day and then have to launder them. If you have a machine you might only be charged for the water, sewer and electricity costs to clean those cloths. If you don't have a machine you would be using lots of water and some boiling process to clean those cloths. Don't even think about a laundromat as an economical solution. Either is far greater expense than using toilet paper and bathing that day or the next. So why would any State consider such item a non-necessity?
These are the daily decisions someone on a severely limited income has to make. They seem extreme but they are not. We can't change local tax laws which call some "essential" items non-essential, today, but we can try to change laws that make it impossible to receive welfare benefits while you try to improve your situation and earn something to get you through the month. Daredtowork has described the the situation well. Please, sign the his/her petition because it deserves to be seen.