Release: Senate Bill will Increase State Food Sales Tax
“With this bill, the Kansas Legislature breaks its promise to Kansans to lower the taxes on their groceries." - Stephen Davis, President and CEO of Harvesters—The Community Food Network.
Published 2023-02-16FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023
CONTACT: Christina Ostmeyer, costmeyer@kansasappleseed.org, 785-269-7493; Jon McCormick, jmccormick@rgakc.com, 913-226-8020; Karen Siebert, KSiebert@harvesters.org, 913-220-4213
SENATE BILL WILL INCREASE STATE FOOD SALES TAX
TOPEKA, KS — A bill to repeal Kansas’s food sales tax elimination and limit sales tax exemptions to only “healthy” foods (SB 248) was introduced into the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation this week. Amid record inflation, this bill will increase grocery costs for all Kansans.
"Repealing legislation to end the state food sales tax is nothing short of a broken promise to Kansans,” said Jami Reever, executive director, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. “Not only would this bill repeal the full elimination of the food sales tax, which had strong bipartisan support when signed into law last year, it would also send a message to Kansans that their legislators don't trust them with their own grocery budget."
“Taxing so-called ‘unhealthy foods’ would be uncertain at best and a failure at worst,” said Jon McCormick, president and CEO of the Retail Grocers Association of Kansas and Missouri. “Senate Bill 248 is a hidden, regressive tax increase on lower income families in Kansas who buy food in grocery stores, convenience stores and supermarkets. SB 248 will be confusing to the consumer and unfair to the retail businesses along the state borders. Grocers in Kansas will have a level playing field with other states by 2025, and do not want to return to a competitive disadvantage and this is harmful tax policy."
Nearly half a million Kansans have limited access to food. Rural and urban communities alike struggle with the lack of access to grocery stores, and families must compromise on the groceries they buy based on the store they can travel to.
“With this bill, the Kansas Legislature breaks its promise to Kansans to lower the taxes on their groceries,” said Stephen Davis, President and CEO of Harvesters—The Community Food Network. “This regressive tax would increase the grocery bill of every single Kansan, but harms low-income Kansans the most. And this tax hike on hard-working Kansans facing record-high food inflation is being proposed while the state sits on the largest budget surplus in its history.”
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Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is a statewide organization that believes Kansans, working together, can build a state full of thriving, inclusive, and just communities. Kansas Appleseed conducts policy research and analysis and works with communities and partners to understand the root causes of problems and advocate for comprehensive solutions. For more information, visit: kansasappleseed.org.
Retail Grocers Association represents most of the independent supermarket and convenience store sales in the State of Kansas and works for the betterment of retail food store operators and their suppliers. The Retail Grocers Association is a non-profit organization operated by and for retail food store operators and their suppliers. For more information, visit: rgakc.com.
Harvesters—The Community Food Network—is a food bank providing food and related household products to more than 760 nonprofit agencies in Kansas and Missouri including emergency food pantries, community kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes and others. Harvesters mobilizes the power of communities to create equitable access to nutritious food and address the root causes and impact of hunger. For more information, visit: harvesters.org.