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October 15, 2007
Cutting the Food Tax is About Fairness
Because the sales tax applies to food, clothing, cars,
and appliances, but not investments or most services, it
hits low-income families harder than high-income families
who spend only a small portion of their income on taxable
items.
The tax on food is one of the most unfair parts of Tennessee's
sales tax. Why? Because groceries represent over 20% of
the budget of a typical low-income family, while they only
account for about 4% of a high-income family's budget.
A family with $15,000 / year take home pay spends over
20% of their income on groceries.
Meanwhile, a family with $100,000 / year take home pay
spends only about 4% of their income on groceries.
Pie charts are based on Consumer Expenditure
Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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