ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Year after year, Missouri lawmakers consider tossing out the state\u2019s tax on food, but it hasn\u2019t happened as many Missouri cities rely on that tax for roads and public safety.<\/p>\n
Still, Missouri is in the minority of states that still charge a grocery tax.<\/p>\n
First Alert 4 found shoppers who would appreciate the tax break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m currently meal-prepping and spending $300 a week for food,\u201d said Maria Sevier.<\/p>\n
Maria Sevier is spending a pretty penny every week to make sure she eats healthy, with some of that money going to the state and local governments.<\/p>\n
She would save around $20 a week if the state phases out the grocery tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, make it happen!\u201d said Sevier.<\/p>\n
Multiple bills have been filed in Jefferson City this year aiming to get rid of the tax.<\/p>\n
One bill from Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, would rescind the state tax of more than 1%. It would then force counties to completely phase out the tax by 2031.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, I\u2019d prefer they get rid of it, but we need the taxes to help subsidize a lot of different things,\u201d said Deborah Brown.<\/p>\n
Deborah Brown of north St. Louis County says it would help her finances if the tax went away, but she understands cities rely on the tax.<\/p>\n
Brentwood Mayor David Dimmitt told First Alert 4 last year his city heavily relies on the tax, and he testified again this year, in opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou talk about defunding the police, you would see it in action because we would have to lay off police officers,\u201d said Dimmitt.<\/p>\n
We compared five local cities\u2019 taxes and how much a family spending $1,000 a month on food could save.<\/p>\n
In Brentwood, you\u2019d save $63 a month; in Chesterfield, $53; in O\u2019Fallon, $48 a month; in St. Louis, around $64; and in St. Ann, $71.<\/p>\n
Some grocery stores are located in voter-approved taxing districts, meaning even more savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean that we get to save our own money more and that would do a lot for us,\u201d said Malik Jones.<\/p>\n
Malik Jones says his family is on a budget and could invest in the stock market.<\/p>\n
As for Brown, she\u2019d put the money right back into the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther stuff that I need that is more important,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n
And Sevier is a teacher; she\u2019d look to save for school supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cBooks, computers, pencils, everything,\u201d said Sevier.<\/p>\n
Illinois just got rid of its state grocery tax, but still allows cities to charge 1%. Looking across the nation, 35 states have completely gotten rid of the tax.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KMOV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Year after year, Missouri lawmakers consider tossing out the state\u2019s tax on food, but it hasn\u2019t happened as many Missouri cities rely on that tax for roads and public safety. Still, Missouri is in the minority of states that still charge a grocery tax. First Alert 4 found<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[8087,2714,5560,19845,8086,2444,3642,3640,3638,3641,3639,5561,2911],"class_list":["post-21245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-missouri","tag-first-alert-4","tag-groceries","tag-grocery-tax","tag-jon-kipper","tag-kmov","tag-lawmakers","tag-missouri","tag-missouri-dining","tag-missouri-food","tag-missouri-grocery-stores","tag-missouri-restaurants","tag-tax","tag-taxes"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117301531428722436","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}