Grocery tax cuts for 2024 not likely
Members of the joint study commission on grocery taxation met today to discuss the effect the one cent decrease on groceries has had on families across the state. During the 2023 session, lawmakers passed legislation to decrease the state’s sales tax on food. So, last September the tax dropped from 4% to 3% which you may or may not have noticed during your trips to the grocery store. The law also said the tax would be reduced another percentage point to 2% in September 2024 if it looked like the revenue in our state’s Education Trust Fund for 2025 would be at least 3.5% higher than 2024.
But it looks like that won’t happen because growth within the Education Trust Fund is expected to be less than 2%. So, the bottom line is that you won’t see any more tax savings on your groceries this year. But groups like Alabama Arise are proposing that Lawmakers modify the legislation from last year so that low-income families can get a break at the grocery store now.
Although it doesn’t look like the grocery tax will drop this year based on the numbers, it could be decreased in 2025 if the Education Trust Fund has the required growth. Before the tax break on groceries was passed last year, Alabama was one of only three states that did not have a reduced tax on groceries.
