Ala., Miss. criticized for taxes on food

The Clarion-Ledger, 4/30/7

This summer, Alabama and Mississippi are set to become the only states that apply their full state sales tax to groceries without any relief for low-income families, a distinction critics see as a holdover from their Deep South political past.

Mississippi lawmakers wrapped up a legislative session in March, with a measure dying that would have reduced the state’s 7 percent tax on groceries and raised the state tax on cigarettes. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour opposed the tax change, saying the state still faces too much economic uncertainty after Hurricane Katrina.