Harmons, the Utah-based chain of grocery stores, is joining a citizen campaign aimed at overturning recent changes to the state’s tax laws.
The grocer announced Thursday that its 19 Utah locations would host signature gathering beginning on Saturday for the referendum effort, which launched after lawmakers approved a package of reforms in December that cut the state’s income tax while raising the sales tax on food.
“Food is essential and should be affordable,” Bob Harmon, the company’s chairman, said in a prepared statement. “Increasing the tax on food hurts everyone, but especially those in our community who are already struggling.”
Harmon said that the company feels strongly that Utahns should vote on the tax changes before they take effect. Utah’s referendum law requires that supporters collect more than 115,000 signatures by January 21, including 8% of registered voters in at least 15 of Utah’s 29 counties, in order to qualify for the ballot.
Lawmakers convened in special session last month to approve the tax changes, which combine to an overall cut of roughly $160 million in state revenue. In addition to the increase in grocery taxes, the reform package expands the services-based businesses that will be subject to sales taxes while increasing the per-child dependent exemption and creating new tax credits for low-income residents.
Critics argue those annual tax credits do little to mitigate the ongoing and short-term pressures of higher grocery bills.
A bipartisan group of individuals and advocacy organizations have endorsed the referendum effort. But organizers have committed to relying on volunteers to collect signatures, rather than the professional firms employed in recent years by successful ballot initiative campaigns.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/2sat5B3
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