This week my colleagues and I presented a bill that would reduce the sales tax on food and food ingredients across the state.  The sales tax on food in Tennessee ranks near the top in the nation.  All Tennesseans are affected by this regressive tax and during these tough economic times, we should help everyone by reducing this tax.

The Governor is proposing a reduction in the sales tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5.3 percent, but that is not enough.  I want the reduction to be more and I will continue to fight to make that happen.

If the state legislature is going to be cutting taxes, we should start with taxes that hurt our working families.  There are too many families living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to put healthy food on the table for their kids. When it comes to tax relief, working families should be our top priority.

My colleagues talk a lot about cutting taxes, but the question is not if they are going to cut taxes — it's whose taxes are they going to cut.  The sky-high grocery tax holds back our economy and hurts our middle class families. Those are the two problems Tennesseans from all walks of life would like us to fix.

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia levy a general sales tax. Most of those states have eliminated, reduced, or offset the tax applied to food for home consumption, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Many of our communities that are located near the state line also suffer because of our high sales tax on food. Many residents simply go out-of-state to buy their groceries and avoid Tennessee’s high sales tax on food. While they are there, they also purchase other items and our communities lose that revenue too.  Hopefully, we can keep sales tax dollars in Tennessee by lowering or eliminated the sales tax on food.

We are anxious to review each item set to come before the House.  I hope that you will contact me at 741-1980 to let me know how you feel about the issues facing our communities.

by Representative Mike McDonald

Rep. Mike McDonald (D-Portland) serves the 44th District in the Tennessee House of Representatives.