Cutting the tax on FOOD is real and alive!

Thursday morning, June 7, 9:00 AM

State representatives are going into session this morning at 10 AM. Cutting the sales tax on food is on the agenda. It could be taken up today or Monday, June 11. State legislators are planning on going home after this morning's session and returning on Monday, June 11th, finishing on June 12 when they are planning to approve the state's budget.

We need to call our state legislators and provide them with a clear message, "We want a permanent, year-round, across-the-board cut in the sales tax on all food. We do not want another tax holiday."

This last Monday, Speaker of the House, Representative 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.

How strong a chance?

We need everyone to take 10 minutes and do the following:

1. Call and email state legislator this morning at their legislative offices. 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;
2. Call your legislator on Friday or this weekend at their home. Everyone has one state senator and one state representative. Find out who your legislators are. Go to: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/
3. Ask friends and family members to do the same.

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