Was reading NOS as "nitrous oxide" and was very confused
this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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It does use the branding. It used to even come in a plastic bottle shaped like the tanks you use in a car. But this one makes your body run faster and possibly explode, instead of your car.
Was more thinking of the inhalant gas used medically by dentists and otherwise known by enthusiasts as "hippie crack" or (more recently) "Galaxy gas"
Oooh, laughing gas. Now that would be a great energy drink!
Some background: retailers in California that sell taxable goods have the choice of either including sales tax in their posted prices ("tax incl") or not ("+tax"). Whichever they choose, they must disclose which method they use and must be consistent. Retailers of tax-free goods obviously don't need to make this choice. Vending machines invariably always include the sales tax (and CRV if packaged beverage) to make the price a round number.
non-prepared food items no longer have sales tax
This is mostly correct, since the sales tax on food is generally on hot food that is otherwise unprepared. If any other preparation occurs (like with a sandwich from a sandwich shop), then that added preparation makes the whole sandwich taxable, even though the individual food ingredients would have been tax-exempt.
The only taxes I know I would be paying for a canned soda would be the CRV/California Redemption Tax, which is a flat $0.10 per aluminum can.
Minor quibble: CRV is California Redemption Value and is a refundable fee. The tiny distinction from a tax is that fees are potentially refundable (and this is, upon recycling the container) whereas a tax is virtually never refunded in any scenario. That said, the California Constitution specifies that taxes and fees have the same requirements when it comes to approving them, since the payment of a tax or fee is mandatory. But I digress.
Anyway, the rates that you described is not correct. The current rates are:
5 cents for containers less than 24 ounces
10 cents for containers 24 ounces or larger
And only applies to aluminum, glass, plastic, and bi-metal.
So on a can of NOS (16 fl oz) pays just 5 cents, but a 24 fl oz can will pay 10 cents. I'm not sure which size can you were looking at, but I'm going to guess it was a 16 fl oz can.
If 16 fl oz priced at $1.98, then add 5 cents CRV, that's $2.03. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) writes that:
Sales of noncarbonated drinks are generally not taxable, but their containers may be subject to the CRV. On the other hand, sales of carbonated and alcoholic beverages are generally taxable, and the CRV fee that is charged for their containers is taxable
And:
Under SNAP, we consider items purchased with CalFresh benefits as sales to the United States government, and those items are therefore exempt from tax in California.
And:
Sales of eligible food items purchased with CalFresh benefits are exempt from tax, even if the sale of the food item is normally taxable. For example, the sales of carbonated beverages, ice, and food coloring are exempt from tax when purchased with CalFresh benefit
So if you're somewhere within, say, San Luis Obispo city where the sales tax rate is 8.75%, then that brings the $2.03 up to $2.21 if bought without CalFresh, since both sales tax and CRV apply, and CRV is itself taxable. But on CalFresh, neither sales tax nor CRV apply, so the total would just be $1.98.
This all appears to align with your observations.
Anyway, the rates that you described is not correct. The current rates are:
In my defense, I am going by what is printed on the can itself. It says ten cents for CA, and 5 cents for ME, VT, MA, NY, HI, and IA. And this is the 16oz one, too. :/
Overstating the tax and then being charged less, that's going to be less jarring to consumers than the opposite situation, where people are charged more than what it says on the can haha. They emboss cans with the worst-case tax rate because the tops are produced separately from the body of the can, so they genuinely don't know what size of can it will be part of.
But I get it: taxes are hard, since even the supposed simplicity of a "flat tax" rate still requires exemptions and exceptions everywhere. Otherwise, people will get away with paying less tax than they ought, or more tax than is reasonably fair, or that the purpose of the tax is wholly defeated.
Taxation systems: simple to administer, easy to understand, fair. Pick at most two. Anyone who says they've come up with a system that achieves all three perfectly is a liar or doesn't understand how taxes work.
tar'ge charges a soda can tax, while WF does not. eventhough are buying Sparkling water, and not SODA.
Is there sweetened drink tax?
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a ready-to-drink beverage counted as prepared food.
Not afaik. There used to be both regular sales tax and a "snack tax" on things like soda, candy and chips but that was nixed when I was still in school and not that far after sales tax on packaged food items was dropped.
And these taxes I am being charged on the soda are not being added everywhere I shop. Which is what makes me suspicious.
Ah! IDK if it's legal in CA but here in Chicago many small businesses used to charge the credit card fees to the customer. That was made illegal a year or so ago, so those stores switched to charging 4% higher prices but offering a 4% discount for cash.
If it's not every store, they might be charging you that CC processing fee.
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