Utah lawmakers consider eliminating food sales tax

Some Utah lawmakers on the Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee are considering eliminating a tax on food, which comes after the previous legislative session pushed for the opposite.

After talk began on restoring the food sales tax back to a previous rate, Republican Sen. Deidre Henderson helped redirect the discussion to elimination at the Wednesday meeting.

Other lawmakers expressed interest with the idea, and Republican Rep. Tim Quinn asked staff to come back with the calculations for how the change could occur.

The state dropped the sales tax on food from 4.75 percent to 1.75 percent about a decade ago.

In a deal that fell apart last session, senate leaders pushed to restore the tax back to the previous rate citing the change would reduce volatility in sales tax revenues.