I was looking at a grocery receipt, and there are three different tax rates depending on the items. The receipt doesn’t even specify which items are taxed at which rate - just the total at each percentage.
I understand the goal of lower or higher taxes on groceries is to incentivize purchasing healthier options over more processed foods, but does it really affect purchasing decisions when the final price of the items is opaque to the consumer?
Tax brackets usually applies to income tax. You are talking about sales tax which varies by state. Oregon doesn’t have sales tax and California doesn’t tax any grocery food. Maybe this is a discussion for the state you live in, not the whole USA.