Key House leader says Mississippi should cut highest-in-nation grocery tax
House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said if legislators look at reducing or eliminating the income tax this session, they should also explore reducing the 7% sales tax on groceries.
“I don’t understand why we have to be 50th in that,” he said, referring to Mississippi having the highest state-imposed sales tax on groceries. A few states that allow local governments to impose an additional sales tax on top of the state levy, such as Alabama, have a higher tax on food in some local jurisdictions, but no state has a higher statewide sales tax on groceries.
In November, Gov. Tate Reeves proposed phasing out the income tax over a multiple year period. In the past, House Speaker Philip Gunn, Lamar and other House leaders also have endorsed reducing or eliminating the income tax. But Lamar said recently as his committee looks at the income tax issue this year it should include an in-depth look at the tax structure.
“We want this to be a bipartisan effort,” Lamar said. Many Democrats have long championed eliminating the grocery tax.
Read more: https://mississippitoday.org/2021/01/21/key-house-leader-says-mississippi-should-cut-highest-in-nation-grocery-tax/
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