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Issued December 28, 2007
For immediate release…
Spokespeople are available statewide.
Contact the follow to arrange interviews:
- Bill Howell, TFT Nashville, 615-751-5011
(off) or 615-289-1397 (cell)
- Kimberly Douglass, TFT Knoxville, 865-687-9600
(off) or 865-705-9205 (cell)
Other contacts:
- Dick Williams, TFT Member, 615-886-4146
- Phil Schoggen, TFT Board Member, 615-356-2381
RING UP SOME CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR
Tennessee Food Tax Cut Takes Effect January 1st
When the citizens of Tennessee ring up their purchases
at the grocery store next Tuesday, “it will be a Happy
New Year indeed,” says Phil Schoggen of Tennesseans
for Fair Taxation (TFT). That’s because the state
tax on food will be reduced by one-half percent, hailed
by many as another step on the road to tax fairness.
Schoggen adds, “This victory, on top of the earlier
victory in preventing the 2002 sales tax increase from being
applied to grocery food, means that food is now taxed at
a 1.5% lower rate than non-food items. That’s enough
for every Tennessee family to buy another five-and-a-half
days’ worth of groceries each year.”
During the 2007 legislative session, Tennesseans for Fair
Taxation (TFT) won a reduction in the state food tax, paid
for with part of the increase in the state cigarette tax.
“The food-cigarette tax swap was a no brainer”,
says Schoggen. Tennessee had the highest food tax in the
country and one of the lowest cigarette taxes.
“This outcome was possible because key legislators
in the General Assembly recognized the need for change;
legislators from both sides of the aisle recognized the
need for shared prosperity across this state”, says
Schoggen.
Even with the recent victories, Tennessee’s food
tax remains the third highest in the country. The remaining
tax on food still represents 28 days’ worth of groceries
each year for the average family. “The upcoming one-half
percent food tax cut is a good first step, but one-half
percent cuts are small steps in a long marathon”,
says Dick Williams of TFT.
In the next leg of this marathon, TFT, along with its
broad based coalition members, is proposing further reductions
in the state food tax. In the 2008 legislation, TFT will
propose paying for these reductions by closing tax loopholes
that allow multi-state corporations to avoid paying the
same business taxes that our homegrown businesses must pay.
Says Williams, “Small businesses, from across the
state, have already indicated their support for the Food
and Business Tax Fairness Act”.
Momentum for closing corporate loopholes has been building
nationwide. A total of 21 states have already passed “combined
reporting” provisions to close corporate loopholes.
In 2007 alone, three states, West Virginia, New York and
Michigan, passed such legislation, closing an array of corporate
loopholes in the process. In mid-December, a study commission
recommended that the Massachusetts state legislature take
similar steps.
As with similar campaigns in other states, the Tennessee
legislative campaign seeks to correct a feature of the state
law that makes it legal for corporations to avoid paying
their fair share of taxes. The closing of corporate loopholes
represents another opportunity for shared prosperity in
Tennessee.
“With the recent food tax reductions, The Tennessee
General Assembly has already established the principle that
sales tax on groceries is unfair to hardworking Tennesseans,”
says Williams. “Not only will this measure help working
families put food on the table, it will also level the playing
field for locally-owned businesses by ending tax breaks
that are available only to big, multi-state corporations.”
In mid-January, TFT, its coalition members, and small
businesses from across the state, will hold a statewide,
multi-city, media kickoff to announce their plan to build
on the success of 2007 with the Food and Business Tax Fairness
Act. “January 1st will be a good day in Tennessee.
We look forward to lots more good days like it,” adds
Williams.
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