Tennessee lawmakers should pass Aftyn Behn and Charlane Oliver's bill to end grocery tax
I’d like to thank and cheer on the efforts of Tennessee State Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, and Sen. Charlene Oliver, D-Nashville, to eliminate grocery sales tax and close the loopholes that allow corporations in Tennessee to do business without paying state excise tax.
This kind of representation is needed.
Tennessee has one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, and unlike most states, also places a sales tax on food.
Tennessee also has elected officials who are happy with placing its citizens on loose fiscal footing.
Income tax ban burdened Tennessee residents in other ways
Not only did legislators promote a constitutional amendment that bans income tax, but they also succeeded in getting it on the ballot where the majority of the 2014 voters said "Yes" to Amendment 3.
Sadly, that move leaves our treasury needing revenue from elsewhere.
It also leaves our state in the throws of folks and corporations coming here for tax breaks.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee and the majority GOP members of the House and Senate are the reason we have high grocery cost and lack of affordable housing.
Democrats like Rep. Aftyn Behn and Sen. Charlene Oliver may be the ones who help correct this.
Ita Hardesty-Mason, Kingston Springs 37082
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Grocery tax puts an undue burden on Tennesseans. Lawmakers end it
