State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, is still unsure if his proposal to cut the grocery tax has a chance of passing the legislature this session.
Orr’s bill would phase out the grocery tax on items covered by the Women Infants and Children (WIC) federal program. The plan includes a 1% cut every other year until the tax is completely eliminated, while also contains some “stop-gap” measures if the tax cut results in too much revenue loss to the education budget.
The lawmaker discussed his bill Friday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”
“I don’t think we have some definition in the Legislature as far as which path we’ll take, if any,” Orr said, “because there are upsides and downsides to each of the proposals that I’m aware of that are floating around out there.”
While Orr is supportive of cutting the tax, he said some lawmakers are making an understandable argument against the measure.
“I have to acknowledge their understanding that when we cut the grocery tax, that’s a cut to education and it is a direct cut to education,” Orr said. “So, is that really something we want to do, give a cut like that? That’s obviously going to mean future education dollars that aren’t going into the colleges and classrooms and school choice bills if it passes. Those are the ones that lose. It’s not less money for prisons or Medicaid or other programs.”
Orr admitted there is disagreement among lawmakers on whether the tax cut should include any item under the WIC definition or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) definition.
Under the WIC definition, he said it would cost “a little over $200 million,” but under the SNAP definition it would cost substantially more at “over $600 million.”
“Who’s going to be pushing SNAP other than the lobbyists who have products and they would like to see that tax come off,” he said. “So the grocers, soft drinks, candy, others. The more progressive liberal groups, they would love to see a broader definition like that as well.”
Orr believes that some of the other bills being considered are just too costly.
“I wanted to try to put a ceiling on it … of what I felt and Chairman (Danny) Garrett in the House, of what we felt was a top line manageable amount if we were to go down that road,” he said. “And other proposals that are being circulated I think shoot too high and could really cause a problem when it comes to funding education.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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