Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Grocery Tax Repeal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sponsor says grocery tax repeal can be paid for by closing corporate loopholes; committee issues negative recommendation
Summary
SB 2511 seeks to eliminate the state's 4% grocery tax and offset revenue by adopting worldwide combined reporting; sponsor argued the plan is revenue-neutral but fiscal review could not confirm net effect and the committee issued a negative recommendation.
Senator Oliver presented SB 2511 and said the bill is ‘‘a serious plan to end the grocery tax in Tennessee,’’ explaining the proposal would zero out the state's 4% rate on food and food ingredients and replace lost revenue by requiring multinational corporations to report and pay on a worldwide combined basis.
Oliver told the committee the measure ‘‘does not raise taxes on anyone’’ and that the revenue loss would be ‘‘replaced by closing a loophole that allows global corporations to hide profits overseas.’’ He cited national reporting (ITEP) and argued states that use combined reporting can generate significant revenue, but acknowledged fiscal review could not determine the net effect for Tennessee and listed a potential fiscal exposure of $410,000,000.
Senators asked whether combined reporting had produced consistent positive revenue effects in other states; Oliver said fiscal modeling and differences in state tax calculation methods left uncertainty in the committee's fiscal note. The committee ultimately voted to report SB 2511 with a negative recommendation (recorded vote: 4 ayes, 1 no).
