WV Governor Seeks to Reduce, Eliminate Food Sales Tax

West Virginia governor announces plans to reduce (and eventually eliminate) the state's food tax, which currently stands at three percent.

January 20, 2011

CHARLESTON, WV - Acting West Virginia Governor Early Ray Tomblin announced last week he wants to reduce the state??s 3 percent tax on food to 2 percent beginning next January and eventually eliminate the tax altogether, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

West Virginia is one of only "a dozen or so states," according to the CDM, that taxes groceries, and none of the states bordering West Virginia does.

The state??s food tax was instituted during the Great Depression and was eliminated in the late 1970s, only to resurface in the 1980s when the state was facing a budget crisis. At the time, it was set at 6 percent.

Governor Joe Manchin reduced the tax by 1 percent a year from 2006 to 2008, until it rested at its current 3 percent rate. And at his State of the State address last week, Tomblin took up the issue.

"Several years ago - in a responsible manner - we moved toward removing this regressive, unfair tax," Tomblin said. "And while we do not have the capability to remove it all at this time - I believe we can make this fiscally responsible reduction. It is this type of broad tax relief that will help our working families, our seniors, and all those trying to make ends meet. Every little bit counts."

It is uncertain whether the West Virginia Legislature supports Tomblin??s plan. The food tax currently generates $78 million a year, and reducing it by 1 percent will result in $26 million in lost revenue.

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