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Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Watchdogs: Tennessee's High Food Tax is a "Turkey"

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008   

Tennessee's high food tax is a "turkey,"according to a consumer watchdog group, which points out that the seven-percent tax on food "gobbles" up a serving of Thanksgiving dinner.

Dotty Seek, former board member for Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, says the state lowered the tax this year, but the state still has the third-highest tax rate on food in the country.

"We really wanted to lower the food tax more, but the state was in such dire financial straits they couldn’t afford to lower it anymore."

Tennessee's food tax takes a bigger bite out of family budgets on the lower end of the income scale, according to Seek.

"75 percent of their income is taxed because they naturally have to pay more for necessities. I’ve been unable to understand how people feel it’s a fair tax."

Families that have good transportation often avoid the tax by driving to another state, says Seek, which is easy to do because half of Tennessee's residents live in counties that border another state.

Hesitation about lowering the tax comes from those concerned about how it would reduce state revenue. This year, the cigarette tax was raised to make up the difference.





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