When he was on the campaign trail, candidate Glenn Youngkin said he wanted to eliminate the grocery tax. After he got elected he was able to persuade members of the General Assembly to get rid of the 1.5% state sales tax on groceries.
"There's two pieces to the sales tax, there's the local piece and the state piece," Youngkin explained. "And we got rid of the state piece completely and that will go into effect on January 1st. So go shopping on January 1st and you'll see the overall tax bill go down."
The bill passed a Senate controlled by Democrats because it also eliminated the sales tax on menstrual products, a longtime goal of Senator Jennifer Boysko. She worked for six years to make that happen, and the governor's campaign pledge on the grocery tax gave her the opening she needed.
"There are stories from families who have to make decisions, especially with those who have lots of girls in their families, whether they're going to go to school or if they're going to go to work because they cannot afford to purchase the products. And I've been really pleased to work on this effort for so long and to see it actually coming through in January 2023," Boysko said.
Some items at the grocery store will still be taxed: beer and wine, tobacco and prepared foods will still have a state sales tax. And local governments still have the ability to add a sales tax to groceries.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
