Lee Says Ax the Grocery Tax to Fight Inflation

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday he will propose a one-month pause on the state and local grocery taxes in an effort to ameliorate the effects of inflation.

The Republican said he'll include the proposal in budget amendments he plans to send to the General Assembly March 29. Tennessee's statewide grocery tax is 4 percent, and local governments can (and usually do) add as much as 2.25 percent.

Legislators proposed a similar plan in 2020. That two-month pause would have cost the state $100 million, according to estimates.

"As Americans see their cost-of-living skyrocket amid historic inflation, suspending the grocery tax is the most effective way to provide direct relief to every Tennessean," Lee said in a release. "Our state has the ability to put dollars back in the pockets of hardworking Tennesseans, and I thank members of the General Assembly for their continued partnership in maintaining our fiscally conservative approach."

Lee's proposal comes on the heels of an idea floated by some Democrats to suspend the collection of gasoline taxes — though unlike that plan, a food-tax suspension would be guaranteed to effect the consumer's bottom line, albeit in a smaller way.