Food tax is distasteful

In regards to the Feb. 20 letter by Pat Manners (“Tax on food has merit”), while I agree with our governor that tax on candy and pop has merit, certainly tax on food has no merit. Washington state had sales tax on food for many years, until the Legislature came to its senses and realized the impact that such a tax has on fixed income, low income or those who were underemployed or out of work.

I work for a nonprofit corporation that operates Spokane County’s largest food bank. Weekly, we see households come to us for help because they are easily spending 30 percent to 40 percent of their income trying to feed themselves and their families. We see senior citizens whose complete income is $650 a month.

According to Pat Manners, we should ask the lowest household incomes to proportionately carry the highest tax burden by taxing that which they have to have in order to survive: food. I was totally amazed to even see this topic in print. The whole idea of placing a disproportionate tax on the poor in order to balance the state budget has no merit and needs to be summarily discarded.

Donald N. Kaufman

Spokane