May 19, 2013
Legislators trying to remove sales taxes from groceries have stopped for now, but they plan to try again when the economy improves.
On May 29, the Senate voted 29-6 for Selma Senator Hank Sanders' bill that would remove sales taxes from groceries. His bill would have replaced the $500 million in lost revenue by repealing some state income tax deductions.
Sanders and several other legislators had hoped to use that vote to try to get Gov. Bob Riley to revise his $1.3 billion tax plan to include a repeal of the sales tax on groceries.
Riley said that removing the sales tax on groceries was one of his goals when he began crafting his tax package, but said the price tag was too high with the state facing a $675 million budget deficit.
But, Sanders got the Senate to pass a resolution setting a goal of removing the sales tax on food when the economy improves.
