2009-10

No New Food and Beverage Taxes

Representative Pedro “Pete” Marin (GA)

WHEREAS, this global recession has spread economic stress across income levels, with lower
and middle-income Americans especially hard hit;

WHEREAS, a frugal and stretching daily living expenses is a necessity for hardworking lower
and middle-income Americans;

WHEREAS, government should address budget shortfalls with a prudent combination of budget
reductions and fair and broad-based revenue generators, not discriminatory taxes on food
and/or nonalcoholic beverages;

WHEREAS, the food and beverage tax burden on the lowest earning fifth of the population is
already six times greater than the food and beverage tax burden on the highest-earning fifth (US
Department of Labor Consumer Expenditure Surveys 2007);

WHEREAS, it is vital that public policy markers help hardworking Americans retain their tenuous
hold on financial security by shielding them from even more burdensome new food and/or
beverage taxes;

WHEREAS, food and beverage expenditures represent a significantly higher share of
household spending for these lower and middle-income Americans, rendering any proposed
food and beverage taxes extremely regressive;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators –
fully supporting hardworking Americans – opposes all efforts by Federal and State governments
to impose new taxes on food and/or nonalcoholic beverages.