Food tax reduction has been legislative aim for decades

Gov. Phil Bredesen is opposing a Republican-sponsored measure to reduce the 6 percent food tax by a half percentage point each year until the tax is eliminated in 12 years. Bredesen, a Democrat, says the measure would create a massive budget shortfall.

Then-Gov. Lamar Alexander in 1985 had to persuade lawmakers that the state would have had to impose an income tax if the Legislature did not rescind a measure to eliminate the food tax. The Legislature relented and restored the tax on groceries. Alexander, a Republican, is now Tennessee’s senior U.S. senator.

In 1999, then-Gov. Don Sundquist, a Republican, proposed a new business tax and an income tax on Tennesseans earning more than $50,000. Sundquist said the new taxes would balance the budget plus eliminate the food tax.

The food tax element was later stripped out of the proposal that ultimately failed after four years of emotional debate.

In 2002, lawmakers voted to hold the tax on groceries at 6 percent while the sales tax on other items was raised to 7 percent.