Americans for Tax Reform Foundation and its Cost of Government Center have released their second edition of "Tax Bites," a project that unveils how much the price of goods and services is driven up by government. The goods and services highlighted are popular targets for revenue-hungry lawmakers who impose "sin" taxes and other punitive costs on products and industries. These discriminatory taxes, coupled with the costs companies shoulder under the current tax burden under federal, state and local governments, increase the costs of goods and services by an average of 41 percent.

Good/Service Tax Bite Tax Bite as % of Cost
Cigarettes
Distilled Spirits
Gasoline
Beer
Airfare
Cable
Firearms
Cell Phones
Hotel
Car Rentals
Meals Out
Soda
Smokeless Tobacco
Wine
Candy
Vaccines
OTC drugs
Prescription drugs
$4.19/pack
$7.15//750ml bottle
$1.59/gallon
$2.07/six-pack
$158.37/one-way trip
$29.05/month
$204.10
$18.90/ month
$63.52/stay
$12.47/rental
$10.99/meal
$0.21/can
$2.40
$6.20/bottle
$0.21
$16.07
$2.52
$20.04
75.17%
56.31%
44.52%
44.33%
43.77%
42.51%
40.82%
40.04%
39.39%
38.77%
30.84%
27.98%
62.45%
32.74%
30.81%
29.67%
28.80%
25.21%