Elimination Of VA Grocery Tax Touted By Youngkin In Alexandria
February 4, 2022 | Virginia
Gov. Glenn Youngkin visited an Alexandria grocery store Thursday to discuss his proposal to eliminate Virginia’s grocery tax.
Groceries have a sales tax rate of 2.5 percent in Virginia, which includes a 1.5 percent state tax and 1 percent local option. During his campaign, Youngkin promised to eliminate the grocery tax in Virginia, which is one of 13 states that taxes groceries.
Former Gov. Ralph Northam had proposed eliminating the 1.5 state grocery tax in a budget proposal before leaving office. The 2.5 percent sales tax rate for groceries is lower than Virginia’s standard sales tax rate of 5.3 percent plus regional or local tax.
In a roundtable Thursday at Alexandria’s King Street Safeway store, Youngkin called the grocery tax regressive, impacting residents who can least afford it. The governor sees it as one way to address increasing costs of groceries for families amid the effects of inflation…. (Excerpts from the Patch)
