Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Help me out with something. I just stopped at a Minyard Food Store before going to Subway for my twice-weekly sandwich. I bought two bottles of Ocean Spray cranberry juice for $3.49 each, two cartons of Dreyer's fruit bars for $4.19 each, and several bananas for $2.53. The total came to $18.58, including 69¢ in tax. Tax? Which item was taxed? I thought food items were nontaxable here in Texas. Sales tax is roughly 8.25%, so I infer that the fruit bars were taxed, and not the other two items. But why would fruit bars be taxed and not cranberry juice or bananas? Has someone made the judgment that fruit bars are not wholesome, even though they're clearly food and not a toiletry? This is bizarre! Does anyone know what's going on? I suppose it's possible that Minyard is screwing its customers, but I don't think that's very likely.