According to a report by the Food Research and Action Center, one in eight Utah families are food insecure. Rather than increasing low-income family’s access to nutrition, our Legislature is attempting to do the opposite by raising the food sales tax from 1.75% to 4.85%. This is more than a 3 percentage point increase from its current rate. This detrimental decision will impact hundreds of thousands of children and families in our own state.
I work as a social worker in a low-income school, and I work every day with children who belong to families struggling with food insecurity. Hungry students cannot learn, they have trouble focusing and they carry more stress and shame than any child should have to.
As an allegedly family-oriented state, our government should do all they can to increase access to nutritious food for low-income families. Not punish them by raising the cost of food.
If the tax hike passes, there will be more hungry children and more food insecure families. Our “family friendly” state won’t be anymore.
Gabrielle Kouris, Salt Lake City