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For immediate release...
Press conference locations & contacts:
• Tri-Cities: 10:00 am in the meeting room at the Sullivan
Co. Library in Blountville
Contact: Tiffany Hartung at 865-684-3715
• Knoxville: 2:00 pm at the TFT Office, 2918 E. Magnolia
Ave
Contact: Tiffany Hartung at 865-684-3715
• Nashville: 1:00 pm at the State Capitol in the Library
/ Legislative Lounge across from Sen. Chambers
Contact: Bill Howell at 615-289-1397
• Memphis: 1:00 pm at the Memphis Center for Independent
Living office
Contact: Beverly Owens at 901-406-7878
Coalition calls for permanent food tax cut, takes message
to YouTube
As legislators enter the final weeks of the legislative session,
Tennesseans for Fair Taxation (TFT) and others work to ensure
a permanent, across-the-board food tax cut is part of the
final package. With a vote likely in the next two weeks, TFT's
takes their message to YouTube, an on-line site where videos
can be uploaded and shared with the general public. At press
conferences held in four cities across the state today, TFT
unveiled a new on-line video that depicts the impact the food
tax has on families across the state.
"The simple fact is, Tennessee's high food tax takes
a whole months worth of groceries off the table of every Tennessee
family each year," states Dick Williams of Tennesseans
for Fair Taxation (TFT). "If you spend $600 a month for
groceries, then you pay $600 a year in food taxes. If you
spend $300 a month on groceries, then you pay $300 in food
taxes... For many Tennessee families on the edge, the cost
of putting food on the family table means the utility bill
doesn't get paid that month or the mortgage payment goes in
late."
The new on-line video the group posted on YouTube depicts
Department of Revenue officers in SWAT-style uniforms swarming
in on unsuspecting grocery store shoppers as they make their
way to their cars. The Revenue officers seize the groceries
of these reluctant taxpayers and haul them off to the Capitol
in order to balance the state budget.
Williams adds, "80% of Americans pay no state food tax
where they live. Of those who do pay a food tax, nowhere in
the country do people pay an average state and local food
tax as high as they do in Tennessee. That's just plain wrong.
This year we have the power to change that... but it will
take more than a one-time holiday or some limited milk and
eggs exemption. We are calling on state legislators to enact
a permanent food tax cut on all food, all the time."
The group has been advocating for a food tax cut paid for
with an increase in the state cigarette tax, a bill commonly
referred to as the Tax Swap. While Tennessee's combined food
tax in the nation's highest, the cigarette tax is among the
nation's lowest at 1/5th the national average of $1 a pack.
Even if the Governor's cigarette tax increase for education
passes in full, Tennessee's cigarette tax will still be far
below the national average while our cigarette tax will still
be the nation's highest.
"Our basic message to legislators is this... Whatever
cigarette tax increase is approved for the Governor's education
initiatives, add another 27 cents so we can also cut the state's
high food tax." concludes Williams.
A forwarding link to the YouTube video will be at http://www.fairtaxation.org/YouTube
beginning at 10 a.m ET on Thursday, May 17.
The Food Tax - Cigarette Tax Swap (SB93/HB114) as originally
drafted would cut the food tax in half, paid for with a 44
cent cigarette tax increase. Senate sponsors of the Tax Swap
include Senators Doug Jackson (D-Dickson), Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville),
Tommy Kilby (D-Wartburg), Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City), Bill
Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Raymond Finney (R-Maryville), and
Lowe Finney (D-Jackson). House sponsors of the Tax Swap include
Representatives David Shepard (D-Dickson), Beth Harwell (R-Nashville),
Eric Swafford (R-Pikeville), Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville),
Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory), Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), Sherry
Jones (D-Nashville), Ben West (D-Hermitage), Janis Sontany
(D-Nashville), Eric Watson (R-Cleveland), Park Strader (R-Knoxville),
John DeBerry (D-Memphis), Mike Bell (R-Riceville), Kevin Brooks
(R-Cleveland), Mark Maddox (D-Dresden), Dale Ford (R-Jonesborough),
Glen Casada (R-College Grove), Debra Maggart (R-Hendersonville),
Susan Lynn (R-Mt. Juliet), and Thomas DeBois (R-Columbia).
Legislative sponsors can be reached at 800-449-8366.
To learn more abour TFT and the Tax Swap, visit http://www.fairtaxation.org
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