Only ten states in America charges sales tax on food. Kansas just eliminated this unfair and unpopular tax. A bill in the Missouri Legislature could eliminate the sales tax on food in that state. Does Utah want to risk becoming the last state in the country where people are taxed for buying food at the grocery store?
Charging sales tax on groceries hurts low income families the most because they spend a much larger share of their monthly budget on food. Research from the USDA shows that low income families spend 32.6 percent of their after-tax income on food while families with incomes in the top twenty percent spend 8.1 percent of their income on food.
Charging sales tax on groceries hurts low income families the most because they spend a much larger share of their monthly budget on food. Research from the USDA shows that low income families spend 32.6 percent of their after-tax income on food while families with incomes in the top twenty percent spend 8.1 percent of their income on food.
Because food is such a big share of the budget for low income families those families were particularly hurt by inflation in food prices during recent years. Analysis from the USDA shows that between 2019 and 2023 food prices increased by 25 percent.
This makes 2025 the perfect year for Utah to get out of the business of taxing food. Almost any other approach to taxation would be more equitable.
Senator Nate Blouin has a bill to eliminate the state portion of the sales tax on food, SB 122. The original version of this bill would have cut $200 million a year from the portion of the state budget that funds non-education programs like Medicaid and road repairs. That fund does not have surplus and so it will be difficult to cut $200 million a year from it without hurting important programs for low income Utahns. For that reason, the bill has been stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.
Senator Blouin has addressed the budget concerns by creating a substitute version of the bill that offsets the cost of eliminating all state sales tax on food by increasing the sales on non-food items by a very small percentage. A very similar bill passed the Utah House of Representatives in 2018 with broad, bi-partisan support. In a year where national Republican leaders are proposing populist tax proposals like eliminating federal taxes on tips and Social Security income it seems like this should be a year where it is possible to eliminate one of the least popular taxes in Utah.
Two Ways You Can Help
1. Contact the members of the Senate Rules Committee and ask them to assign the revenue neutral substitute version of this bill, SB 122 S 1, to a committee for discussion. This a concrete way legislators can help families struggling with rising food prices that is very similar to a bill that passed in 2018 with strong bipartisan support.
Senate Rules Committee Members:
Senator Lincoln Fillmore, Chair, [email protected]
Senator Keith Grover, Vice Chair, [email protected]
Senator Luz Escamilla, [email protected]
Senator Don Ipson, [email protected][email protected]
Senator Karen Kwan, [email protected]
Senator Dan McCay, [email protected]
Senator Kevin Stratton, [email protected]
Senator Todd Weiler, [email protected]
Senator Rod Winterton, [email protected]
2. Contact the members of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee and ask them to co-sponsor and support SB 122 S 1. Eliminating the sales tax on food is simple, fair and popular.
Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Members:
Senator Dan McCay, Chair, [email protected]
Senator Brady Brammer, [email protected]
Senator Kirk Cullimore, [email protected]
Senator Luz Escamilla, [email protected]
Senator Lincoln Fillmore, [email protected]
Senator Wayne Harper, [email protected]
Senator Chris Wilson, [email protected]
Senator Nate Blouin has a bill to eliminate the state portion of the sales tax on food, SB 122. The original version of this bill would have cut $200 million a year from the portion of the state budget that funds non-education programs like Medicaid and road repairs. That fund does not have surplus and so it will be difficult to cut $200 million a year from it without hurting important programs for low income Utahns. For that reason, the bill has been stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.
Senator Blouin has addressed the budget concerns by creating a substitute version of the bill that offsets the cost of eliminating all state sales tax on food by increasing the sales on non-food items by a very small percentage. A very similar bill passed the Utah House of Representatives in 2018 with broad, bi-partisan support. In a year where national Republican leaders are proposing populist tax proposals like eliminating federal taxes on tips and Social Security income it seems like this should be a year where it is possible to eliminate one of the least popular taxes in Utah.
Two Ways You Can Help
1. Contact the members of the Senate Rules Committee and ask them to assign the revenue neutral substitute version of this bill, SB 122 S 1, to a committee for discussion. This a concrete way legislators can help families struggling with rising food prices that is very similar to a bill that passed in 2018 with strong bipartisan support.
Senate Rules Committee Members:
Senator Lincoln Fillmore, Chair, [email protected]
Senator Keith Grover, Vice Chair, [email protected]
Senator Luz Escamilla, [email protected]
Senator Don Ipson, [email protected][email protected]
Senator Karen Kwan, [email protected]
Senator Dan McCay, [email protected]
Senator Kevin Stratton, [email protected]
Senator Todd Weiler, [email protected]
Senator Rod Winterton, [email protected]
2. Contact the members of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee and ask them to co-sponsor and support SB 122 S 1. Eliminating the sales tax on food is simple, fair and popular.
Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Members:
Senator Dan McCay, Chair, [email protected]
Senator Brady Brammer, [email protected]
Senator Kirk Cullimore, [email protected]
Senator Luz Escamilla, [email protected]
Senator Lincoln Fillmore, [email protected]
Senator Wayne Harper, [email protected]
Senator Chris Wilson, [email protected]
