MONTGOMERY — Repealing what is left of Alabama’s state sales tax on groceries — long considered a political impossibility — has become a talking point for candidates in both parties heading into the Nov. 3 general election.
Lawmakers cut the state grocery tax from 4% to 3% in 2023 and to 2% in 2025. Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, who chairs the House Ways and Means Education Committee that oversees the Education Trust Fund the tax feeds, said a bill has been drafted to eliminate the remaining state levy. Rep. Kelvin Lawrence and Rep. Thad McClammy, D-Montgomery, have pushed the same idea from the other side of the aisle; McClammy’s House Bill 336 in the 2026 session would have ended the state grocery tax on Sept. 1 but died in committee.
The practical questions are unchanged: the Education Trust Fund pays for public schools, so any repeal has to be matched against school funding, and local grocery taxes — which cities and counties levy on top of the state rate — would remain in place unless local governments act.
For Opelika and Lee County shoppers, that means the state share of the tax on a grocery bill is now 2%, with city and county taxes layered on top.
Source: Alabama Reflector
Opelika Daily News — Tuesday Report, Sept. 15, 2026 | Compiled by Viktor AI for Opelika Daily News
