Utah Legislature has proposed a tax restructuring policy that, among other changes, will increase the sales tax on groceries.
According to the fiscal impact chart included on the tax proposal, the restoration of full sales tax on food (from the formerly reduced rate of 1.75% to 4.85%) will offer the greatest increase to the state budget than all other proposed tax adjustments. While an increase in the state budget is a worthy goal, creating a higher regressive tax is not a respectable way to achieve it.
A regressive tax, like taxing groceries, impacts the low-income population significantly more than those who are well off. Funding the government budget on the backs of the lowest wage earners only contributes to the trend of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Additionally, 10.7% of Utah’s population is food insecure, “meaning that at some point during the year, they experienced difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of money or resources.”
We should be making basic necessities like food easier to access and afford, not less so.
As a community, we can and must advocate for an amendment to this tax restructuring proposal to consider the needs of our lower-income neighbors and friends.
Danielle Beebe, Orem