Elimination Of VA Grocery Tax Touted By Youngkin In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — 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.

"Inflation is at a 40-year high. What we saw last year was 7 percent inflation in the grocery category. We're expecting another 5 percent here in the first half of the year," said Youngkin. "To an average family of four where their weekly grocery bill is $250 a week, this is real impact."

When a roundtable participant asked what causes the inflation, Youngkin discussed supply chain disruptions and higher labor costs. He also believes federal policies have caused energy and transportation costs to go up.

Aside from reaffirming the intent to eliminate the grocery tax, Youngkin brought in members of his Cabinet to discuss other initiatives to address grocery store costs.

Youngkin said he asked Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings and Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr to collaborate on two initiatives. The first is coordinating a work session of leaders from the supply chain and grocery industry this spring to determine if there are any state government regulations that slow groceries getting into stores. The second initiatives is looking at how to use Virginia's Finest and Virginia Grown to bring more Virginia-grown products into stores.

"If we in fact are successful in bringing more Virginia Grown, Virginia Finest products to the shelves here in Safeway, transportation costs will be much lower than in fact shipping in products from all over the country and sometimes over the world," said Youngkin.

Youngkin believes with a state budget surplus, the state can ease the tax burden on residents.

The governor's full tax proposal calls for eliminating the grocery tax, suspending the most recent gas tax hike for one year, doubling the standard deduction and providing a tax exemption for up to $40,000 on military veterans' retirement. Even with proposals that would reduce tax revenue, Youngkin is promising a record education budget as well as investments in law enforcement and economic development.