The final countdown is on for the end of groceries being hit with Oklahoma’s sales tax , and Oklahoma State Representative Kevin Wallace of House District 32 is excited. As of Thursday, August 29th, the state sales tax will no longer be charged in Oklahoma groceries and supermarkets for food items.
Wallace was the House co-author of HB 1955, which ends the sales tax on groceries, a 4.5% savings on each dollar spent. He says the savings are significant- “Absolutely, it’s 418 million dollars annually in revenue that is being turned back to taxpayers and consumers”.
Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked with Wallace a week out from the first day of the sales tax exemption for groceries to take effect. The local sales tax will remain in place- but the state sales tax ends next Thursday. “It is historic- proud to be part of that…it’s time to give back to the people and I’m glad that we were able to get that done.”
They also talked about some of the other legislation that Wallace had a part in this past legislative session. Wallace says his district 32 is a rural district and that he is pleased one of the measures he has been able to work on is to benefit rural fire departments. “The operating grant funds for those- over the last couple of years, we have been able to increase those dollars from $4600 to over $10,000 for each rural fire department.”
There’s also the pay raise that the legislature was able to deliver on for extension personnel, which he describes as much needed.
And Wallace says he was happy to work with Speaker-Elect Kyle Hilbert in securing money for the remodeling of the Camp that the state FFA organization uses each summer near Ft Gibson.
Hays and Wallace also talked about the teamwork that multiple parts of state government has shown in reducing the number of grow houses for medical marijuana in the state. Wallace says at the height of the rollout of medical marijuana when we had over 8,600 grow house licenses- we have around 2,800 licenses on the books. Illegal grows have been shut down and removed from the rural Oklahoma landscape.
Wallace says that he really has enjoyed working with constituents- helping them “get them with the right person or agency when they have a problem…getting them with the right contacts.”
He adds that most of the battles in the legislature have not been Democrat versus Republican- but urban versus rural. He says representing a rural area of the state has been so important to him during his service in the state legislature.
Wallace is in the midst of a runoff election against challenger Jim Shaw of Chandler- election day is Tuesday, August 27th.
