Call to let voters decide on food tax

CHARLESTON A new wrinkle is being injected into a Republican effort to get West Virginia's food tax eliminated in a single act — one aimed at letting voters decide in a constitutional amendment.
Just this week, the Democratic majority rejected a GOP move to bypass committee work on a tax elimination bill and send it directly to the floor.
That failed in a vote largely along party lines.
Delegate Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, wants the people to decide, since delegates aren’t apt to get the chance in this session.
She says the 5 percent tax — down one penny after last year’s special session — is “immoral. We’re one of seven states that taxes food,” she said Friday.
“The Constitution does deal with taxes, so this is a perfectly appropriate way to allow the people to have a vote on whether to eliminate the food tax or not."
Frich said the Constitutional Revision Committee likely will meet only once this session, about mid-week, so she’s getting a joint resolution in print before then. “Since the Legislature is not allowed to vote on it, this would allow the people to vote on the food tax,” she said.
One Democrat is on board — Delegate Tom Louisos of Fayette County, the only member of his party to vote last week in a failed bid to get a tax cutoff bill sent to the floor.
“Any way we can get the tax on food off,” he said.
Louisos offered a bill that would slap racetracks with a $10,000 fee per slot machine.
Most of his constituents want the food tax dropped immediately, not gradually as Gov. Joe Manchin has proposed.
“You need the food,” he said. “You sure don’t need to gamble.”
Louisos said he wasn’t surprised to see the leadership stifle the GOP maneuver to force a direct floor vote on the food tax bill.
“It seems to me the gambling industry has a stronger hold on this body than the folks out there buying food,” he said.
Frich agreed, saying the law is written so that racetracks avoid the licensing fee that mom-and-pop parlors are forced to cough up.
She acknowledged the constitutional tack on the food tax is a long shot.
“Against all odds,” she mused. “But I’m just trying to move forward.”
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com