Feb 22, 2018
Taxpayers shouldn’t feel bubbly about taxing sugary beverages
No policymaker in good conscience should consider new sugary-drinks taxes… Read More
The Arizona Victory
Arizona took a stand and proactively stopped the government from singling out everyday grocery items for taxation. The passage of the Food Tax Fairness Act prevents excessive food and beverage taxes from harming Arizona businesses and working families.
The people of Arizona understand that grocery taxes unleash serious costs to local businesses, jobs, and working families struggling to make ends meet. The examples in Philadelphia, Pa. and Cook County, Ill. paint a stark picture of the local outrage and economic losses that come when you single out one grocery item like beverages for significant taxation.
Arizona did not want what happened in Philly and Cook County to happen to their state. So, they did something about it.
A wide coalition of businesses, farmers, ranchers and consumers rallied around the Food Tax Fairness Act (H.B. 2484). This bill simply states that all grocery items should be treated the same. If you want to tax groceries you can, but you have to tax them all at the same rate.
The act passed in March 2018 with overwhelming, bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey. In doing so, Arizona voted to protect consumers, workers and businesses from a patchwork of punitive taxes on foods and beverages. This is a victory for the people of Arizona and landmark legislation to keep food and beverages affordable.
“We just can’t let government use tax rates to pick winners and losers in foods and beverages in what we consume today, and to have them try to influence consumers of what they deem to be a good or a bad food.”
– Tim McCabe, president of the Arizona Food and Marketing Alliance
Arizona NEWS
Dec 12, 2017
Your Turn: A soda tax for Arizona education? That’s not so sweet
Funding our public schools is critical to our future. But would we want to do… Read More