Tennessee considers proposal to cut statewide grocery tax

Oklahoma eliminated its statewide tax on grocery purchases, and Tennessee is now considering similar legislation.

Tennessee is one of 12 remaining states that still taxes residents on grocery purchases, but the legislature is currently considering a bill to do away with the 4% charge. 

Nashville Rep. Aftyn Behn, who filed HB 2043 to cut the tax, says the bill would save households more than $400 a year on average. But it would cost the state somewhere between $700 million to $1.1 billion a year. 

“Food should not be a financial burden on hardworking Tennessee families,” Behn said in a statement. 

Behn could not immediately be reached for comment.

She said in a statement that the lowest-income fifth of families spend nearly two times the share of their annual income on groceries compared to those in the highest-income fifth of income earners in the state.

Oklahoma eliminated its 4.5% statewide grocery tax in early March, and Illinois is also considering cutting its 1% tax. 

 Other states that tax groceries include: Mississippi at 7%; Kansas at 6.5%; Idaho at 6%; South Dakota at 4.5%; Alabama, and Hawaii at 4%;  Virginia at 2.5%; Utah at 1.75%; Arkansas at 1.5%; and Missouri at 1.23%.