CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia groceries are about to get a little cheaper.
The state is scheduled to shave another percentage point off the sales tax on groceries July 1. This latest cut will reduce the so-called food tax to one penny per dollar spent.
Revenue officials estimate the reduction will save consumers $26 million a year. But such cuts come at the expense of West Virginia's general revenue budget.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed continuing cuts to the food tax begun under his predecessor, now-U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. The tax rate was 6 percent in 2005.
Tomblin plans to mark the latest cut Wednesday at Charleston's Capitol Market and Grant's Supermarket also in Kanawha County.
The tax will disappear completely after July 1, 2013, if emergency reserves remain sufficient.
