Axe the Tax on Food Permanently
Help make the removal on sales tax on food permanent! Currently the removal of sales tax on food is only a two year tax holiday. Come down to a "Folks for Freudenthal" office in either Cheyenne or Casper to sign a petition today!- The Wyoming State Legislature passed a budget amendment that will remove the sales tax from food for home consumption from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2008. The exemption will expire automatically, with no action required by the legislature.
- If one of the 5 members of the House Revenue Committee who voted against HB117 had voted in favor of HB117, the "Heat & Eat" bill in the 2006 legislative session, the food tax exemption would not expire in two years. In addition, home-heating utilities would be exempt from sales and use tax, as well. The loss of the 2-year utility tax exemption is estimated to have cost the average Wyoming household $200 for the 2 years.
- The Axe the Tax on Food (Permanently) Initiative will give the people of Wyoming the opportunity to vote in the 2008 general election to decide if the exemption should continue. If the initiative passes on the ballot, it will also require the legislature to take action if they want to eliminate the exemption.
- Effective January 1, 2007, only 6 states will fully tax groceries. Of those 6, some have on-going efforts to eliminate the tax on groceries. The Utah legislature removed two cents of their four-and-three-quarters cents tax on food, which will go into effect January 1, 2007. Efforts will continue there to remove the other two-and three-quarters cents in the near future.
- According to self-sufficiency data, the exemption of food for home consumption will save the average Wyoming family of four $287-$518 per year. These figures are based on a family of two adults, one school-age child and one pre-school age child. It varies with family income and the tax rate in a particular county.
- 36,868 signatures must be gathered and verified as registered Wyoming voters by Dec. 1, 2006. In addition those signatures must represent 15% of the number of people who voted in the last general election in 16 counties. As of March 2006, over 20,000 signatures have been gathered. In order to ensure 36,868 signatures will be verified, an additional 30-40,000 signatures must be gathered. We are striving to meet that requirement by October 1, 2006, but please do not stop gathering signatures on that date.
- The Wyoming Department of Revenue is responsible for formulating the rules and regulations for the exemption that went into effect July 1. The rules and regulations follow the requirements for the federal food stamp program for most items. Two noted differences are: the federal food stamp program exempts vegetable seeds for planting from sales tax, the Wyoming state exemption does not; the federal food stamp program does not exempt dietary supplements from sales tax, the Wyoming state exemption does. The food stamp exemptions are already programmed into most supermarket cash register systems, so the exemption actually simplifies their jobs.
For more information go to http://axethetaxonfood.com
