State initiative aims to protect grocery prices

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With more than 360,000 signatures collected and submitted to the Washington Secretary of State for verification on July 5, a new state measure aims to protect everyday grocery items from local taxation.

Initiative 1634, led by the Yes! To Affordable Groceries campaign, will head to the General Election in November for state voters to decide whether local governments will have authority to tax anything that can be found at a regular grocery store, from produce to pasta to beverages such as soda.

“We’re taking a stand to bring fairness to our tax structure, to protect jobs and neighborhood businesses and to prevent excessive taxation on what we eat and drink,” stated a press release from the campaign.

Within the initiative text, groceries is defined as “any raw or processed food or beverage, or any ingredient thereof, intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages, marijuana products, and tobacco,” and lists items such as meat, poultry, fish, fruits vegetables, grains, bread, nonalcoholic beverages, condiments, spices, seasonings, and more.

“The people of the state of Washington find and declare that no local governmental entity may impose any new tax, fee or other assessment that targets grocery items,” stated the Initiative submitted in March.

The proposed legislation comes on the heels of Seattle’s Sweetened Beverage Tax, which went into effect at the beginning of the year mandating a 1.75 cent per ounce tax on any sweetened beverage. With its top four donors of the campaign including the big names in the bottling industry, it has raised eyebrows as to the its the initiative’s true intentions. These top donors include the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Inc., Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., and Red Bull North America collecting more than $2 million in support. The next highest donor was the Washington Food Industry Association, putting in $20,000 in all.

The campaign launched with a teleconference on July 9, welcoming journalists to hear why voters should support the state measure. When questioned about its purposes in protecting taxation on sugary drinks, organizers denied such claims, saying it was about stopping regressive taxation before even starting.

Michael Mandell, a campaign spokesperson, asserted any taxation on food or beverages would inherently impact working families across the state, including machinists, building trades and labor organizations.

“Regressive taxation not only impacts family budgets ... it can impact jobs,” he said. “We need more good paying jobs in our state, not less.”

The call also featured a few representatives around the state, giving their reasons why voters should back the November initiative.

“People are worried about how Washington is becoming less affordable,” Pete Lamb, Senior Business Agent for Teamsters Local 174, said. “They are already living under the most regressive tax structure in the country that is unfair to working families. They don’t want local governments to tax their groceries too.”

Brandon Hersey, an educator in Federal Way, said he sees the impact of government policies and impact on families and children, who he said is the most vulnerable victims in the situation.

“So many of my students experience various forms of trauma and scarcity, and this tax only perpetuates this cycle of inequity.”

Hersey also cited Washington’s wage and tax structure in the country ranking in number one in economic growth but low in the closing the achievement gaps to access those technological jobs. He said the ballot measure is a measure step to protect working class families from another aggressive tax.

Mother of two from Spokane, Keilynn Manley, said working families find it hard to live paycheck to paycheck.

“We can’t afford new taxes on groceries,” she said, pointing to the taxes in Seattle, particularly the beverage tax, giving her anxiety about where it would stop. “1634 provides the protection that we need.”

She added although the state does not collect taxes on food and beverages, there is a loophole in the law that would allow new taxes on groceries.

“The threat of food tax is real,” said April Clayton, of Red Apple Orchards, citing articles about carbon taxes on beef and health taxes. “Washington farmers produce over 300 different crops each year generating over 10.6 billion in income.”

Organizations that are also part of the Initiative are Washington Cattlemen’s Association, Washington Tree Food Association and the Washington State Dairy Federation. “Food should be off the table when it comes to taxes.”

As of the time of publishing, no organization has stepped up to oppose the measure.