LOVELAND, Colo. — With the price of food on the rise, there’s a movement in Loveland to give shoppers a little break on their grocery bills.
Ballot Question 300 asks voters this November whether or not they’d like to eliminate the 3% tax on groceries, or food for home consumption.
"It’s a regressive tax," said George Garklavs, a supporter of the ballot question. "I don’t think there’s any argument about that."
It's estimated the average family of four with two teenagers spent between $1,116 and $1,375 on groceries in August, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For Loveland grocery shoppers, that spending level would come with an additional $33.48 to $41.25 in sales tax based on the city's 3% tax rate on food for home consumption, which would save a family nearly $500 a year on groceries.
“Well over half the people in our country cannot keep up with the cost of living,” Garklavs said. “Life is getting tougher, inflation is taking a bite out of everybody, and it might be nice for the city to tighten its belt just like people do in their households.”
The City of Loveland said it has no official position on the initiative, but it is sounding the alarm about the impact it would have on the city budget, saying Question 300 would result in a loss of more than $10 million in annual sales tax revenues.
“$10.5 million is a very significant amount of money to the general fund,” said Brian Waldes, chief financial officer for the City of Loveland. “Taking $10.5 million out of our general fund every year would result in changes to our programs.”
The city said it might have to cut or eliminate some programs and services. $10.5 million is about 16% of Loveland’s total annual sales tax revenue.
“We want people to understand what they’re deciding on,” Waldes said.
Many other cities in Colorado have eliminated their grocery tax, including Denver, Aurora, Littleton, Lakewood and Colorado Springs, but Loveland would be the first to do so in northern Colorado.
“In our region, this would be a first-of-its-kind,” Waldes said.
Garklavs said he believes the lost revenues could be made up elsewhere in the budget.
“Citizens would be better served if they didn’t have to pay a tax on something as basic as food,” he said. “There are other ways to get money. I think there are a lot of bright minds working for the city who could look at this and figure out additional sources of revenue.”
Here is the ballot language on Loveland Question 300: "Shall Article 12 of the Loveland City Charter be amended to add Section 12-3 to provide that Council shall make no law, nor continue any law, which imposes any tax or fee on the retail sale of any human food for home consumption, and shall such amendment become effective on January 1, 2024?"
A "yes" vote would eliminate the 3% sales tax. A "no" vote would keep the tax in place.
