More On Food Tax Issue

Sherry was in Harrison earlier today and picked up some of the slick brochures the big government folks have produced (at taxpayer expense) to spread their lies about the ballot initiative to remove sales tax from human food and medicine. The cover pretty much says it all: "Their Axe Attacks Us All."

Inside are all kinds of lies and misrepresentations about the catastrophic effects awaiting Arkansas if tax revenues to the government are reduced by even one cent. It will be so terrible here in Arkansas that we might as well all pack up and move to a high taxing state so that all of our humanly needs will be taken care of. Remaining here would be suicide under the conditions we will be facing.

One line of reasoning that the opponents of the measure use is that removing the sales tax on food and medicine will start a chain reaction, reducing other sources of revenue, such as the Soda Tax, Hamburger Tax and Medicare Matching. Those taxes and payments are calculated differently than normal retail sales taxes, so there is no legitimate linkage. These issues were even addressed and found to be bogus in the Arkansas Supreme Court decision last week that allowed the measure to remain on the ballot.

Here's a new reason to vote against the sales tax repeal that Sherry heard from a client who happens to run a retail food store. He is planning to vote against it in order to save himself from the hassle of having to reprogram his cash registers.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 10/29/2002 08:00:00 PM Send this post: