Oklahoma Lawmakers Making Another Attempt to End Grocery Taxes

While the idea of ending Oklahoma's sales tax on groceries may seem only a few years in the making, it has its own storied history of state senators trying to accomplish this for decades.

In 2024, this 90-year-old issue is back at the forefront of politics in Oklahoma, and as our legislators play their political games, citizens continue to be on the losing side of every argument.

This latest push to eliminate the state grocery tax has been debated and argued about in OKC since 2021. That's when the newest rumblings started when the news media started reporting on the leaked rumors and sound bytes from our state congressional staff.

The first grocery tax bill of this decade came in 2022, but since politics are politics, it quickly grew from an "End Grocery Tax" bill to an endlessly amended 34-page document focussed entirely on which food taxes would continue rather than those that would be eliminated.

By the time a cut to income tax and other issues were tied to it, it slowly morphed into what is called "pork" politics. Like the infamous border bill that contained billions for foreign countries and much less to actually improve and secure the US border the current administration had insisted has been secure for the last three years.

Unshockingly, it failed.

When the next legislative opportunity came about, cutting the grocery tax was on the docket, but it went about the same.

An income tax cut was tied to it... then untied to be a separate issue... then instead of cutting the food tax, lawmakers decided it made more sense to send each Oklahoman a $75 stimulus specifically to relieve the burden of our grocery tax... but by the time inflation hit all-time new high records (recollect $9/dozen eggs) it all disappeared into oblivion.

Not surprisingly, even though our legislators tried to distance themselves from the memory of this debacle, the overall consensus of logic realized something that remains absolutely true.

Politicians will never agree to make do with less tax revenue.

It's fair to say and can be proven with endless examples of this... When the government cuts one tax, it finds a new tax to take its place.

Case and point.

Cutting the grocery tax is again a popular talking point at the capitol, but it's once again tied to a small cut in the state income tax.

Legislators are arguing that Oklahoma can't afford to cut both.

While the federal government insists inflation is only at 3.1%, groceries (and energy/electric/gas) aren't included in those calculations.

All in all, groceries are up (roughly on average) 25% in the Sooner State, which means eliminating the grocery tax will equate to a $400 million hole in the state budget.

Even as Oklahoma's GDP is experiencing a period of growth, lawmakers argue we can't have our cake or afford the ridiculously overpriced fancy paper plates to serve it on.

Sooner State citizens, regardless of party or politics, continue to bear the true cost of our capitol's ineffectiveness.

It is still early in the legislative season. Perhaps they'll find common ground on this issue before the Oklahoma grocery sales tax turns 91 years old in July.