Tag: grocery tax
Grocery Taxes Face the Chopping Block in South Dakota (and Alabama)
High food prices and the end of extra food-stamp allotments mean hard choices around the country for lower-income people.
“You’re having to make the decision between ‘am I paying my mortgage, or my medical bills or my medication or buying food?’” said Stacey Andernacht with hunger relief organization Feeding South Dakota.
But in her state, there’s yet another factor pushing up costs: South Dakota is one of just three — along with Mississippi and Alabama — that levies its full sales tax rate on groceries without a credit or rebate to offset the costs. Read more.
Why Alabama Lawmakers Just Won’t Give Up the Grocery Tax
Legislative sessions most years bring a bipartisan chorus decrying the grocery tax as a cruel burden for low-income families, who are disproportionately people of color. And yet, the tax remains untouched in Mississippi and Alabama.
Along with South Dakota, those states are the only ones charging the full sales tax rate on groceries used for home cooking, from vegetables to flour to even baby formula.
“We exempt food for farm animals, but we don’t exempt food for babies,” said Chris Sanders, the communications director at Alabama Arise, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “It offends me, quite honestly.” Read more.
Grocery Tax Repeal Bills Gain Support in the State House
MONTGOMERY — Renewed efforts to eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries has been gaining support in the Alabama Legislature, but some are still concerned about how to replace the loss of revenue — nearly $500 million a year — in the Education Trust Fund. Read more.
