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Oklahoma
State Senate
OFFICE OF SENATOR JAY PAUL
GUMM
Atoka, Bryan, Coal, Johnston & Marshall Counties
For Immediate Release: March 11, 2010
Sen. Jay Paul Gumm
Senate Approves Bill Ending Grocery Sales Tax
Senator Jay
Paul Gumm has won Senate approval for a bill to end the sales
tax on groceries throughout Oklahoma once the state recovers from
the recession.
The measure, which was approved on a bipartisan 33-11 vote, contains
provisions to protect cities and counties dependent on those revenues.
Those entities would be reimbursed by the state for the tax they
no longer would be able to collect on the sale of groceries.
“First of all, Senate Bill 1328 would not take effect until
revenue collections meet 2008 pre-recession levels,” he said.
“That would put revenues at a level that would enable state
government to meet critical needs without the revenue from the grocery
sales tax.”
For him, Gumm said this effort is really about a question of right
and wrong.
“This speaks to our values. Is food something we really should
be taxing?” he asked. “Most states do not because they
know the sales tax on groceries is the most regressive, most hurtful
tax there is – not only for the poor, but for middle-income
families.”
Gumm, a Democrat from Durant, said the grocery sales tax creates
a higher effective tax rate the lower a family’s income.
“The less money a family has, the greater percentage of it
the must spend on groceries and the tax on them,” he said.
“That means middle- and lower-income families spend more of
their money on the grocery sales tax than do the wealthy, and that
is simply unfair.”
The lawmaker, who has championed this issue since he was first elected,
acknowledged the bill still faces an uphill battle.
“The lobby group for cities and counties will pull out all
the stops to fight this, just as they did with the back-to-school
sales tax holiday,” Gumm said. “There also are legitimate
concerns about the impact to state revenue. That is why we put the
trigger into the bill and made certain cities and counties are reimbursed
for their lost taxes.”
For the state’s long-term economic interests, however, the
lawmaker said ending the sales tax on groceries is the right direction
to move.
“If we are successful and the sales tax on groceries ends,
that money isn’t going to disappear from Oklahoma’s
economy,” he said. “That money will go right back into
local stores and businesses, fueling economic growth in every community
and county of this state.
“This is the right thing to do, for individuals, for families,
and for our state.”
SB 1328 now moves to the House of Representatives where Rep. Randy
Terrill, R-Moore, is its sponsor.
For more information contact:
Sen. Gumm: 405-521-5586
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