House panel will look at renewed grocery tax Tuesday

The House of Representatives is expected to decide Thursday on a Republican plan to bring back the state’s 4 percent sales tax on groceries.

The measure is in the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, and that panel will decide whether to put it to the full House for a vote. Statehouse officials say that’s likely to happen.

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Marshall Guest, spokesman for House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), would only say of the grocery tax bill, “It will get a fair hearing.”

Thursday is technically the last day bills must pass at least one chamber or die for the 2009 session, although some measures can be resurrected as amendments to other legislation.

Some Republicans argue that the legislation would be “revenue neutral” for Georgians who file income tax returns because it would provide a credit to make up for paying grocery taxes.

The idea is to raise badly needed revenue for the state by forcing out-of-state shoppers and other people who don’t file income tax returns to pay the grocery sales tax.

Supporters say it could raise $250 million or more a year.

The proposal by House Ways & Means Vice Chairman Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) would restore a tax that was eliminated in the mid-to-late 1990s as a pet project of then-Gov. Zell Miller. Local governments continue to levy taxes on groceries.

Sims has pushed legislation putting the state sales tax back on groceries for several years.

Under bill, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee last week, Georgia residents who file income tax returns would be able to claim either the taxes they actually paid on groceries if they keep receipts or get a credit based on the number of dependents in their family.

Several legislators questioned about the bill Monday said they hadn’t seen it and couldn’t comment.

But Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said, “Any time you shift the tax burden from Georgia residents to non-Georgia residents, it sounds like a good idea.”