Rep. Aftyn Behn continues to push grocery tax repeal in Tennessee

As the tax-free weekend gets underway, a Tennessee lawmaker is calling on the legislature once again to repeal the Tennessee grocery tax.

Democrat Rep. Aftyn Behn of Nashville efforted a bill during this past general assembly session, but the bill was put on hold . She is not backing down though.

Behn released a statement marking the start of the back-to-school tax free weekend, "A three-day sales tax holiday is offensive to working moms and dads when you compare it to the billions of tax dollars that Republicans have handed over to big corporations."

The statement continued to say ending the state's four percent food tax would put money back into the pockets of hardworking Tennesseans year-round.

During the General Assembly session, democrats and republicans couldn't agree on who would pay the biggest price if the grocery tax is removed.

"The bill creates a business enterprise tax act that raises taxes on our small businesses to the tune of $800 million," said Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett of Goodletsville.

"Right now with billion dollar corporations paying nothing in taxes in the start the bottom 20% of lower income earners pay a high tax percentage on their income then the top 1%. The TN tax burden falls disproportionately on working families rather than the wealth and corporations," said Rep. Behn.

Last year, Tennesseans were able to get some relief during a three month grocery tax holiday, but there are no plans for the same to happen this year.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at brianna.hamblin@newschannel5.com.

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