Speaking to a crowd of media and supporters at Hopper’s Family Market on AL Hwy 69 in Cullman Friday morning, Republican gubernatorial candidate Lindy Blanchard reiterated her promise to eliminate the 4% sales tax on groceries and to suspend and unwind the fuel tax.
“You all know how I feel about the gas tax; it needed to go months ago, and the governor could have - and should have - suspended it," Blanchard said. "But it’s still here. The other tax that absolutely should have been suspended, if not done away with altogether, is the 4% tax on groceries the state collects. Every loaf of bread, every gallon of milk, every ham, hot dog, and hamburger patty sold in this state? 4% tax! That’s nearly $300 a year for an average family and in some places as high as $700 a year.
“Alabamians are hurting now. We’ve been hurting for months. This is my promise to you, Alabama: when I’m elected governor, we’re going to get rid of the state grocery tax. We’re going to unwind Kay Ivey’s gas tax and put that money back in your pockets. We’ll find other ways to pay for the infrastructure we need, without taxing food or piling on pain at the pump. We’re going to go through the state budget line by line to cut waste, reduce or cut out unnecessary fees and trim every bit of the fat we can.”
Blanchard is a native of Alabama from the greater Montgomery area with a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University. She is a wife and mother, businesswoman and philanthropist. Blanchard served as Ambassador to Slovenia under President Donald J. Trump (R), and she and her family now reside in Pike Road in Montgomery County.
Blanchard, Tim James, Dean Odle, and some of the other candidates for governor have all presented similar ideas about eliminating the sales tax on groceries and suspending and/or eliminating the 10-cent-per-gallon tax increase on fuel passed by the Legislature in 2019. Legislators have told 1819 News that eliminating the sales tax on groceries alone would cost the state in excess of $600 million. The candidates claim that this could be done by cutting waste in state government, but to this point have not been specific on what programs they would cut to produce these kinds of savings.
Blanchard, Lew Burdette, Stacy George, Kay Ivey, James, Donald Trent Jones, Odle, Dave Thomas, and Dean Young are all running for the Republican nomination for governor.
Yolanda Rochelle Flowers, Patricia Salter Jamieson, Arthur Kennedy, Chad “Chig” Martin, Malika Sanders Fortier and Doug “New Blue” Smith are all running for the nomination in the Democratic primary.
Both primaries are on May 24.
The winner of the Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the general election on Nov. 8.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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