Boise (670 KBOI) – On January 8th, the gavel drops on the 2018 legislative session, and among everything else on the agenda will be tax reform.
District 34 Representative Ron Nate says the repeal of the grocery tax will be back, after being vetoed by Governor Otter last session.
Nate says if the grocery tax is dropped, the effect will be felt far and wide.
“You can look in the Fruitland area, just across from Oregon, Oregon has no sales tax, therefore you don’t see the grocery and retail outlets just across the river in Idaho,” said Nate. “I think it’ll definitely help border communities, it’ll also help all Idahoans, because they will be experiencing tax relief.”
He says doing away with the grocery tax, along with cutting corporate tax rates, would encourage companies to relocate or start up here.
Idaho is one of only seven states to charge the full sales tax on groceries…other states either don’t charge for food, or charge sales tax at a lower rate than other goods.