Image Credit: Canva
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell says he and his team will begin researching the possibility of eliminating the grocery tax in Davidson County, despite the fact that voters just passed a referendum that would increase sales tax to help pay for the city’s new transit plan.
Last week, almost two-thirds of votes received were in favor of the $3.1 billion “Choose How You Move” transit plan. The plan will increase sales tax in Davidson County by half a cent, bringing it to 9.75% as of February 1, 2025.
O’Connell was asked whether he would work towards eliminating the grocery tax, to which he gave the following statement in response:
“I think the passage of this referendum means that it’s actually something we can now take a serious look at. We’ll be looking at a number of things as we approach the FY26 budget. We’ll have a new finance director on board and want to evaluate things knowing that this is an appraisal year, but that is something we will probably at least look to get a cost estimate on.”
Tennessee is one of only thirteen states that has a grocery tax. The current rate of 4% is one of the highest in the country.
Around this time last year, Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville-District 51) and Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville-District 19) sponsored legislation that would have eliminated the grocery tax across the state.
The bill’s sponsors wanted instead to impose a tax on large corporations in the state to generate the funding that was being generated through the grocery tax. Behn says this can be done by closing what she referred to as “corporate tax loopholes.”
“I’m calling on corporations to pay their fair share of taxes in order to abolish the grocery tax. I would challenge the Republicans across the aisle to join me in fighting to abolish it because it hurts their working-class families as well,” Behn said at the time.
The bill was given a negative recommendation in the Senate. The House Government Operations Committee passed the proposal but gave it a rarely received neutral rating.
“We obviously as Republicans support a tax decrease but we are not going to support a tax increase on businesses that are already struggling in a very difficult economy,” said House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44).
Behn is refiling the bill this fall for consideration at the upcoming General Assembly.
