120+ rally for food tax cut at Capitol!

"Naifeh said the passage of the cigarette tax (42¢ on Monday) means that a plan to reduce the sales tax on groceries from 6 percent to 5.5 percent has a strong chance of becoming law." Most likely, the food tax reduction will become part of the final budget bill.

Legislators were greeted Monday with over 120 supporters of the Tax Swap lining both sides of the Legislative Plaza hallway as they made their way to the State Capitol for session.

Citizens knew that legislators would be reconvening at noon on Monday, prompting volunteers to rally the supporters for a big, final-week push. The effort paid off with better-than-expected turnout and a very strong message to state legislators that the time for a responsible food tax cut is now.

The volunteers positioned themselves strategically by the escalators going from the Legislative Plaza to the State Capitol, forcing legislators to walk through the crowds of supporters on their way to House Session at noon. As part of the festive atmosphere, supporters cheered legislative sponsors of the Tax Swap as they passed, and handed out material to other legislators encouraging them to support the effort.

In addition to the crowds inside the Legislative Plaza, TFT's unofficial mascot M.T. Plate (a giant dinner plate with a fork and knife carring the slogan "Take the tax off food") and a smaller group holding the TFT banner greeted legislators as they arrived outside the Legislative Plaza.

In addition to having a strong presence for the state legislators to see, the event was well covered by the media. Special thanks to all the volunteers, coalition members, and allies who helped make this event possible!

Entering final days... Keep emails and phone calls coming

On Monday, the House approved the 42-cent cigarette tax increase passed late last week in the Senate. While it did not officially include a reduction in the food tax as part of the bill, an AP story printed shortly after the vote reports, "Naifeh said the passage of the cigarette tax means that a plan to reduce the sales tax on groceries from 6 percent to 5.5 percent has a strong chance of becoming law." Most likely, the food tax reduction will become part of the final budget bill.

We cannot let up pressure though until the food tax cut is the law of the land (We're also still looking for ways to bump it up if we can). Until then, we need to keep the emails and phone calls coming. Here's what you can do:

Make a phone call! Legislators are getting scores of emails a day, but phone calls are far more effective. Ask them to be sure and include a permanent, year-round food tax cut as part of any cigarette tax increase. Send an email to all 132 state legislators in support of a permanent food tax cut. Go to: http://www.yourtax.org/action/index.php3

Learn more about the Tax Swap

It's time to do what is morally right for Tennessee by cutting the state food tax in a fiscally-responsible way. That's exactly what the Food Tax - Cigarette Tax Swap (SB93/HB114) does.

To learn more about the bi-partisan Tax Swap as originally filed, go to http://www.yourtax.org/foodtaxswap/. Note: Many of these fact sheets are based on the full Swap as introduced. What will likely pass would be a somewhat scaled down version in combination with whatever the Governor gets.

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Tony Garr, tgarr@thcc2.org, http://www.thcc2.org/

Tennessee Health Care Campaign

1103 Chapel Ave., Nashville, TN 37206

1- 877- 431- 7083