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For immediate release...
Contact:
- State Rep. David Shepard, 615-741-3513
(office)
- Brian Miller, TFT, 865-687-9600 x14 (office)
or 865-712-8006 (cell)
New plan cuts food tax and funds education improvements
A new proposal presented at the State Legislature Wednesday
would both fund the Governor's education initiative and cut
the state food tax by a third, from 6 to 4%, a win-win solution
according to Tax Swap advocates. Instead of raising the cigarette
tax by 40 cents as the Governor has proposed, the new proposal
would raise the cigarette tax by 67 cents, with 40 cents going
toward the Governor's education improvements and the 27 cents
toward a food tax reduction. The new proposal also includes
a comparable increase in the tax on other tobacco products
from cigars to loose tobacco.
"Tennesseans should not have to choose between education
funding or cutting the nation's highest food tax," states
Dick Williams, Legislative Liaison with Tennesseans for Fair
Taxation (TFT). "Thanks to this new proposal and the
leadership of people like Rep. David Shepard, we're beginning
to shift the debate to how we can do both."
"If we're going to vote for a 40 cent increase in the
cigarette tax to fund education, I think a lot of my colleagues
up here would like to add another 22 or 27 cents so we can
also cut the state's high food tax," states Rep. David
Shepard of Dickson, legislative sponsor of the Food Tax -
Cigarette Tax Swap. The new proposal was presented to the
House Budget Subcommittee as an amendment to the Food Tax
- Cigarette Tax Swap. As Rep. Shepard presented the amendment,
he made clear that reducing the state's food tax was an important
goal for him along with supporting the current education initiative.
This sentiment is shared by many legislators at the General
Assembly and is helping fuel a stronger bill that both funds
education and cuts the state food tax.
With the highest food tax in the nation, Tennessee takes
a full month's worth of groceries off the table of every Tennessee
family each year according to TFT. In addition to helping
working families across Tennessee put food on the table, the
coalition argues a food tax reduction will also help Tennessee
grocers in border counties compete more effectively with grocers
in neighboring states that have no, or a significantly lower,
food tax.
"We do not dispute the need to fund the education improvements
advocated by the Governor," states Williams. "But
there is no reason we can't do both. That's what this new
amendment is about." TFT also contends that this week's
rewrite of the BEP formula should not affect this new proposal
because the additional revenue needed for the BEP is expected
to come from revenue growth.
"If legislators are going to raise the cigarette tax,"
adds Ron Naylor, TFT member from Chattanooga, "they should
also cut the state's high food tax while they're at it. If
legislators take the time to talk to voters in their district
about this, I'm sure they'll find that a spoonful of food
tax reduction will help the medicine of the cigarette tax
increase go down."
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