“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” — Joe Biden

For more than a decade, the Hawaii Food Industry Association has advocated for the removal of the general excise tax (GET) on food and medicine in the state of Hawaii. Time and time again, research shows that taxing groceries is one of the worst policies state governments can enact to erode food security and resilience, hurt working families, and increase poverty. Given woes of the current economy, it is time for elected officials to develop a workable road map for weaning government off this regressive tax policy.

A 2021 study found a direct relationship between increased grocery tax rates and increased food insecurity for low-income households. As we found during the pandemic, Hawaii has a long way to go in improving food insecurity and resilience in our state. Removing the GET from food and medicine is a step that legislators can take today, that will substantially and positively impact our food insecurity and resilience crisis.

Currently, 13 states impose levies on groceries. Seven states tax groceries at the level of the ordinary tax rate, including Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas and Oklahoma. The other six states, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia, tax groceries at reduced rates.

Taxing food not only hurts those living paycheck to paycheck, but it also erodes savings and investment opportunities for the middle class and makes Hawaii a much less desirable place to start a food-related business. If Hawaii is to meet our goals of increasing the availability of locally grown and manufactured food, we must show that we prioritize making the food supply chain resilient with our budget.

Hawaii is the most remote location in the world geographically, which puts us at a huge disadvantage when addressing concerns of food resilience. A resilient food system can withstand and recover from disruptions in a way that ensures a sufficient supply of acceptable and accessible food for all. We have a lot of work to do to ensure that this becomes our reality.

With government estimates that Hawaii has a three-day food supply in the likely event of our ports being shuttered from a natural disaster, we should all expect legislators to act with extreme urgency to support our local food supply chain’s resilience.

In addition to removing the GET from groceries, legislators can bolster food security and resilience by increasing green energy storage and generation opportunities as well as tax credits for companies who grow, distribute, warehouse and retail food. Given the fact that all humans require food and water to live, more budgetary resources should be put toward ensuring viability of our local food supply chain. This starts with farmers and ends with you.

We are all in this together, and if we put our priorities in the right place, we can ensure Hawaii’s food security and resilience — and ultimately our survival in the event of a catastrophic natural disaster.

Lauren Zirbel is president of the Hawaii Food Industry Association.