Legislature can cook up relief by taking tax off all groceries

If the Legislature accomplishes nothing else this session, it would still be a success in the mind of many if the regressive monstrosity that is the grocery tax is abolished.

Forget the embarrassingly low credit claimed after the fact on your income tax return.

Forget changing the credit to an amount based on how much you make. Forget leaving it in place because the income is too tempting for the state to eliminate.

Food should not be taxed. Period. Candy bars and lattes, yes. Cigarettes and alcohol, yes. Vegetables and milk, no.

It doesn't matter how little a family makes — or how much. Taxing food is something that should not even be a part of the equation.

As far as taxes go, it is among the most regressive and punitive around. Food is a necessity — and taxing a basic need is about as wrong as it gets.

It also places Idaho in the minority. According to the Web site www.yourtax.org, 38 states do not tax food or tax it at a reduced rate and 12 apply their full sales tax to food.

In Tennessee, which has an average tax rate of 8.4 percent, elimination of the tax on food would mean that the average family would save enough annually to buy a whole month's worth of groceries. With a tax rate of 6 percent, Idaho would probably see similar results.

While it serves as a critical revenue stream — $180 million or so, by some estimates — taxing food is not justifiable, no matter how you look at it.

If other states can figure out how to balance their books AND not tax on food, surely Idaho can do the same.

Caroline Lobsinger is the managing editor of the Daily Bee.