End grocery tax

By Sen. Zeb Little
State Senate Majority Leader

April 26, 2008 10:36 pm

— It is time to make history for the working families, the great middle class, of Alabama. It is time to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries.
And the Alabama Senate Democratic Caucus is ready to do it.
There is no more perfect time, with the cost of food, gasoline and necessities killing middle class Alabama families, to once and for all eliminate the highly regressive sales tax on groceries.
When this tax cut is implemented, every family of four in Alabama making less than $137,000 will have their taxes cut. All in all, 80 percent of Alabamians will get a well-deserved tax cut.
And our plan will immediately help Alabama's seniors, many who live on fixed incomes and who pay no taxes on their retirement income. By eliminating the sales tax on groceries, fixed-income seniors will see perhaps the biggest gain of any group.
The timing for this tax cut could not be better. In the last few months, wholesales prices have increased by records not seen in 30 years. The price of a gallon of gasoline hovers at $3.50. The cost of bread and milk is rising every week. Last week, Sam's Club announced rationing the purchase of rice, whose price has soared 141 percent in recent months and is considering rationing flour and oil in the future.
All of this financial pressure is eating away at the pocketbooks of Alabama's middle class in a state where the per capita income was $32,404 last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
All of this financial pressure points to the same conclusion: The average working man and woman in Alabama is drowning in extra costs, costs rising faster than their incomes. Yet Alabama continues to charge a sales tax on groceries, one of the most unfair taxes in existence.
Removing the state sales tax on groceries is an immediate tax cut that helps every family, every single one. By eliminating the sales tax, every family — every time they buy groceries — will receive an immediate tax cut. Eliminating the sales tax on groceries is a tax cut delivered every day of every year, not a once-a-year tax reduction. Every member of your family, every time, every day they buy food receives a tax cut.
By eliminating the sales tax on groceries, we eliminate an immoral tax. It is wrong to charge a tax on a basic necessity of life like bread and milk. And that tax hits every family the same, regardless of income — the middle class family of two state teachers struggling to make ends meet gets taxed equally with the multi-millionaire in Mountain Brook. That is wrong, and that is immoral because the sales tax on groceries disproportionately impacts the family budgets of middle class and working families of Alabama.
Senate Democratic Caucus member Senator Hank Sanders of Selma is sponsoring the legislation to eliminate the state sales tax on food. So how does Sander’s legislation pay for the food tax cut during such tough economic times? It’s simple. Right now Alabama is one of only two states that allow individual taxpayers to deduct the federal income taxes they pay from their taxable state income. Our plan eliminates that income tax deduction, giving us the money needed to pay for the food tax cut.
Sanders’ legislation also lowers the income tax for many lower-income households by raising the annual income threshold at which a family of four starts paying state income taxes from $12,600 to $20,000. We must help these working families, who play by the rules, work every day, raise a family, obey the law, yet barely keep their heads above water. If we can't help honest people like that, we don't deserve to be in public service, and we don't deserve to call ourselves Democrats.
Now get ready for the kicking and screaming from Alabama Republicans. They will twist the facts. They will try to scare you. They will claim this plan is really a tax INCREASE on the middle class. They will claim this tax plan only helps poor people. They will use their usual tactics of fear and smear, but don't let them fool you.
When you hear people oppose this plan understand one thing: They are either rich people or they represent the very rich. Because you know what? A few rich people will pay just a little more under this plan.
But never forget two things:
1. This plan is a constitutional amendment. That means YOU will make the final decision in November whether to remove the state sales tax on groceries. You will get to vote on the plan.
2. Remember the number $137,000. Every middle-class family of four that makes less than that number will receive a tax cut—for the rest of their lives.
So let's make history together. Let's eliminate once and for the abomination that is the state sales tax on groceries.
It's the right thing to do for our working families
It's the right thing to do for our children.
It's the right thing to do for our seniors.
And it's the right thing to do for Alabama.