Municipal Leaders Rally Against Grocery Sales Tax Exemption

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma municipal leaders are urging lawmakers to defeat an attempt to repeal the sales tax on groceries.

Dozens of officials from Oklahoma cities and towns were at the state Capitol Monday to urge lawmakers to kill the legislation. The bill has passed the Senate and is pending in the House.

Municipal League of Oklahoma executive director Carolyn Stager says sales taxes account for between 30 percent and 70 percent of a city's total tax base.

Wilburton Mayor Stephen Brinlee says elimination of the sales tax on groceries would force cities and towns to raise other fees to pay for municipal services.

The bill's author, Sen. Jay Paul Gumm of Durant, says the measure would ease the tax burden on low-income Oklahomans.