Tax cut a wasted effort

Let's get it right next year, guys. The state Legislature's compromise of a two percentage point reduction in the state's portion of sales tax on food was a wasted effort; it will merely add confusion to an already complicated tax system. As a customer-service supervisor in a grocery store, I am often asked by leery customers to recalculate a transaction to make sure the cash register knows how to add and subtract, and to multiply by the proper sales tax rate.

Jan. 1, 2007, we will have a new lower tax rate for unprepared food, another rate for non-food items, and a higher rate for prepared hot foods. Sounds like I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Because the typical customer will still see sales tax on the receipt, most of the tax reduction will go unnoticed. Sure, everyone will save some money, but imagine how it could have been, to see zero tax on a food purchase; in-your-face tax relief! Let's try it again next year.

Rick Wardle

Riverton