Renewed effort underway to cut Utah sales tax on food
MAGNA, Utah (KUTV) — At the Reams store in Magna, Tony Smith and his mom Frankie had a Thanksgiving dinner deal – he buys, she cooks.
“Spend Thanksgiving together at my parents’ house, with my brothers and sister just be together as a family and enjoy the holiday,” she said.
Smith said he can feel inflation, a sentiment echoed in the aisles of the store by other shoppers, some of whom are on fixed incomes.
Asked about a proposal to cut the Utah sales tax on food—which is 1.75%—he said, “every little bit is going to help.”
Floating the cut again comes as the state may have more than a $1 billion surplus.
“Oh really,” Frankie Smith said. “Then why are our taxes so high when they have a surplus?“
“Time to cut the food tax?” 2News asked.
“Yes, absolutely,” she replied.
Just 17 miles east near Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake, some church pastors and Democratic lawmakers sang “all God’s children going to sit together,” and made their call to end the food sales tax.
“The Coalition of Religious Communities is here today to say that the amount of state taxes prescribed on groceries should be zero,” said Rev. Kim James of First United Methodist Church in Ogden.
The Utah Taxpayers Association, which is calling for a big state income tax cut, said Wednesday that scrapping the food tax is, “a terrible idea.”
Rusty Cannon, association president, said the tax is a stable revenue source, people on government assistance don’t pay it, and the rich pay more when they buy pricey food.
He said opposing a reduction or elimination of the food tax is “probably the most unpopular position possible,” but from a policy perspective, the food tax cut “makes no sense.”
Some GOP lawmakers in the past, and now, have been hesitant to cut the tax on food. Lawmakers actually raised the food sales tax several years ago as part of “tax reform,” which drew so much opposition—for a number of reasons—the Legislature reversed itself in just weeks.
Tony Smith, concerned about his parents, has an appetite for cutting the sales tax on food.
“That extra money would help them with all the other expenses that are going on,” he said.
