Eshelman letter: Grocery sales tax

Here are some reasons to remove the sales tax on food. People will have an extra 6 percent in their food budget, which they will likely spend on more food. That will put more money in the accounts of grocery stores, which the State will tax. People may spend that extra money on non-food things, increasing the revenue from sales tax there. The State will save money not printing and mailing all the grocery tax credit checks. The State will save money not processing all the tax returns from people who don’t have to pay Idaho income tax yet file “taxes” just to get the grocery tax credit. My opinion on the sales tax is to eliminate all the exemptions except for labor and services, and wholesale goods, then add exemptions for food and all used merchandise, including used vehicles. Merchandise should be taxed once and only once when sold new, no matter how much it’s worth.

This story was originally published March 20, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Eshelman letter: Grocery sales tax."