You and I will never agree on a tax that adds even one penny to the cost of food. That is the ultimate regressive tax, and few states do it.

But a second point: the authors of M97 have certainly gotten their wish: people like you and me endlessly arguing about the unknowable: who ultimately will pay? They drafted M97 intentionally to be obscure and difficult to understand. And they did it for very cynical reasons: a regular sales tax would never pass, and an increase in the corporate income tax would have to be so large it would immediately expose the gigantic size of the tax increase. I will keep reminding people that M97 is a trojan horse.

And one more point: why did the authors have to try to solve decades of school underfunding in one extreme tax increase? Why couldn't they propose something more moderate, more fair?  Now, the sponsors' credibility is on the line. If it  fails, they will have great difficulty coming back and trying again.