Posted on September 24, 2019
On Wednesday, September 18th 2019, State Representative Tom Delnicki joined House and Senate Republicans in petitioning Governor Ned Lamont to call the General Assembly into a special session to eliminate the grocery tax set to go into effect on October 1st.
On June 3, 2019 when majority Democratic legislators passed the 2020-21 state budget, they included a change in taxes on prepared meals. At the time, the change was labeled as a 1% tax increase on items already taxed at 6.35%, including all food items sold by restaurants and eating establishments. A recent statement released from the Department of Revenue Services (DRS) has clarified that the new 7.35% tax will also apply to many food items that have always been exempt from taxes when sold in supermarkets and grocery stores.
The tax will apply to not only prepared meals such as sandwiches, deli salads, pizza, rotisserie chickens, and hot buffet items, but also to containers of lettuce, small packages of snacks, loose baked goods, wrapped salads, small servings of ice cream, and meal replacement bars. It also applies to fountain drinks including coffee and any beverage sold with a taxable “meal”.
“We really need to go into session and correct this issue properly. The idea that merely asking for a reinterpretation of the intent is good enough leaves the door open for adding items back in and taxing them in the not too distant future,” said Rep. Delnicki. “I am prepared to come back into session to solve this problem any time, any day.
Lawmakers are able call themselves into a special session by submitting petitions to the Secretary of the State, a total of 76 petitions in the House and 19 in the Senate would need to be collected to successfully call a special session. Rep. Delnicki submitted his signed petition on Wednesday, September 18, 2019.