During the recession, an increasing number of municipalities, ranging from Omaha, to 146 of Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns, enacted meals taxes in addition to regular sales taxes to help make up for revenue shortfalls.The #1 city on the list was Minneapolis with a 7.775% sales tax and then an additional 3% meals tax creating a 10.775% tax on the bill. Also of note is #3 Virginia Beach, VA which came in with a 5% sales tax but a whopping 5.5% meals tax for a total of 10.5% in taxes.
Phoenix, it should be noted, did not enact an additional meals tax, however, the 9.3% sales tax was high enough to tie Phoenix for the #7 spot. But Phoenix is not the only Arizona city on the list. Coming in at #11 is Tucson with a 9.1% tax and Mesa at #13 with a rate of 9.05%. Again, both of these cities did not add a meals tax onto their sales taxes.
More information and the Tax Foundation's top 50 list can be found here.
