> This must be due to increased state and local taxes

I don't know if it matters all that much why prices are increasing for everything, whether it's inflation, corporate greed, new/increased taxes, or whatever else

The fact is people are getting squeezed from a lot of directions, and meanwhile we're reading about record corporate profits, many companies are doing massive layoffs, and raises aren't keeping up with expenses

Picking one particular item hit by a tax in one locality is not a very useful anecdote for the general narrative