Will Alabama cut its state grocery tax again? — Yes

- [2025 session] Alabama's state grocery tax currently stands permanently at 2% (down from 4% via 2023 and 2025 cuts), the baseline rate still in effect today. On Friday, September 1, 2023, the first 1% of a 2% total grocery sales tax cut took effect, with the second phase fully implemented in 2025, reducing the state grocery tax rate from 4% to 2%. This permanent 2% rate is the floor the question asks about ("below 2%"). - [2026-04-16] Gov. Ivey signed HB527 (Act 2026-604), a **temporary** two-month grocery tax holiday, not a permanent cut. Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday signed House Bill 527, and Mike Shaw, R-Hoover, brought a floor amendment creating a two-month grocery tax break that would eliminate the state's remaining 2 percent tax on food purchases from May 1 to June 30, 2026, though local sales taxes will still apply. https://www.alreporter.com/2026/04/17/gov-ivey-signs-tax-relief-bill-state-grocery-tax-eliminated-for-two-months/ - [2026-07-01] The temporary holiday expired and the state's 2% grocery tax rate resumed. The Alabama Department of Revenue has confirmed that unless lawmakers act to extend or repeat the holiday, the full 2 percent state tax on groceries will resume on July 1. This has been confirmed by a Trussville Tribune article referencing the tax holiday having "expired in July." https://theshelbyreport.com/2026/04/30/al-grocers-face-state-tax-holiday-as-national-rollback-accelerates/ - [2026 session, ended ~Apr] HB336 (Rep. Penni McClammy, D) sought to permanently eliminate the remaining 2% state grocery tax starting Sept. 1, 2026, but failed to advance. HB336 – Not Enacted. Sponsor: Rep. Patrice McClammy (D-Montgomery). Sought to exempt food from state sales and use taxes. The bill did not make it past the initial committee stage. https://alabamaretail.org/news/retail-report-2026-session-summary/ - [2026-09-14] Both parties' gubernatorial nominees now back full elimination of the remaining 2% tax: a years-long push to eliminate Alabama's state sales tax on groceries is gaining new bipartisan momentum after Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville made eliminating the remaining tax part of his campaign for governor, and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones has also called for eliminating the tax, making full repeal an issue with support from candidates in both parties. https://abc3340.com/news/local/alabama-governor-candidates-back-ending-grocery-tax-as-issue-gains-bipartisan-support - [2026-09-27] Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), who sponsored both prior permanent cuts, has drafted a bill to eliminate the remaining 2% tax for the next session. Due to the quadrennium, Garrett said he could not yet pre-file the bill for the next session. "And so, in advance of the session, I've already drafted a bill to do just that—to eliminate the remaining two cents," Garrett said. A quadrennium is the four-year period tied to a specific legislature; because this is an election year, a bill cannot be filed for the next session until all new members are in place. "The bill's ready, and we'll drop it, and I expect that the Legislature will take it up at the next session," Garrett said. https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2026/09/27/rep-danny-garrett-to-introduce-bill-eliminating-grocery-tax-in-alabama/ - [2026-09-27] The next regular legislative session is set to begin in February 2027, with new-legislature bills pre-filable starting December 2026. The next regular legislative session begins in February. Bills for the new legislature after the quadrennium can be pre-filed in December. https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2026/09/27/rep-danny-garrett-to-introduce-bill-eliminating-grocery-tax-in-alabama/ - [2026-10-08] Advocacy group Alabama Arise has formally made full grocery-tax repeal a top legislative priority for 2027. Ending the state sales tax on groceries will remain a top item on Alabama Arise's 2027 legislative agenda, including eliminating Alabama's state sales tax on groceries and replacing the revenue equitably; the group also will continue to pursue the complete elimination of the state sales tax on groceries, an effort that has already seen some success, with Arise now seeking to eliminate the remaining tax. Director Robyn Hyden said "Our lawmakers should act quickly to end the state grocery tax forever in 2027." https://www.alreporter.com/2026/10/08/alabama-arise-sets-roadmap-for-2027-legislative-priorities/ - [2026-09-14] Both Garrett (R) and McClammy (D) publicly confirmed plans to file 2027 legislation eliminating the remaining 2% tax. Both Representatives Garrett and McClammy said they plan to file legislation for 2027 to get rid of the remaining two percent tax on groceries. https://www.wsfa.com/2026/09/14/alabama-lawmakers-join-bipartisan-push-eliminate-states-grocery-tax/ - [2026-09-14] Garrett argued the state budget can absorb full elimination without hurting education funding: "We now know what our projected revenues are going to be," he said. "We have managed accordingly, managed to fund education and even though we will hopefully be reducing the grocery tax, that will not impact education funding, we'll continue to invest more dollars into the education budget." https://www.wsfa.com/2026/09/14/alabama-lawmakers-join-bipartisan-push-eliminate-states-grocery-tax/ - [Historical pattern] Alabama has twice passed permanent grocery-tax cuts (2023: 4%→3%; 2025: 3%→2%) unanimously or near-unanimously, each time as part of the regular legislative session (Feb–May timeframe), suggesting any 2027 bill would likely move, if at all, in the Feb–May 2027 regular session — well before the July 1, 2027 close. The previous cuts, in 2023 and 2025, passed without opposition in both houses of the Legislature. BOTTOM LINE: As of today the state grocery tax sits at a permanent 2% (the 2026 holiday expired July 1, 2026), and no bill lowering it below 2% has been enacted; however, there is unusually strong bipartisan momentum — both gubernatorial nominees, the chief Republican tax-cut sponsor (Garrett), and the lead Democratic sponsor (McClammy) all say they will push full-repeal legislation in the 2027 regular session (starting February 2027), which — based on the swift, unanimous passage pattern of the 2023 and 2025 cuts — could plausibly be enacted before the July 1, 2027 close, though it is not yet introduced or guaranteed. NOT FOUND: No confirmation that any 2027 bill text has been formally pre-filed yet (as of Oct 9, 2026, Garrett said it was drafted but not yet filed due to quadrennium rules); no official Alabama legislative calendar/adjournment date for the 2027 session beyond "begins in February"; no statement from Gov. Ivey (whose term likely ends in Jan 2027 given the 2026 election) on this specific future bill.

- [2023-06-01] Alabama's first-ever grocery tax cut passed the Legislature unanimously; the Legislature passed the bill June 1 after clearing the Senate by a vote of 31-0, cutting the state grocery tax from 4% to 3% starting in September , the first cut since 1939 (https://alabamareflector.com/briefs/gov-kay-ivey-signs-grocery-tax-cut-into-law/). - [2025-09-01] Second cut took effect: the Alabama Legislature since 2023 has reduced the state sales tax on groceries from 4% to 2%, falling from 3% to 2% on Monday as a law passed last spring took effect (https://alabamareflector.com/2025/08/31/alabama-grocery-tax-to-fall-1-on-monday/). - [2025-09-01] Both prior cuts were "clean," permanent legislative reductions passed with overwhelming bipartisan support (31-0 and 34-0 Senate votes), establishing a base rate of roughly one successful cut every two years since the process began in 2023. - [2026-04-17] A temporary (non-permanent) grocery tax measure was enacted: Mike Shaw, R-Hoover, brought a floor amendment creating a two-month grocery tax break that would eliminate the state's remaining 2 percent tax on food purchases from May 1 to June 30, 2026, though local sales taxes will still apply — this was a holiday, not a permanent cut, and the rate reverted to 2% on July 1, 2026 (https://www.alreporter.com/2026/04/17/gov-ivey-signs-tax-relief-bill-state-grocery-tax-eliminated-for-two-months/). - [2026-09-27] Bill sponsor Rep. Danny Garrett (who authored both prior permanent cuts) confirmed he has already drafted a bill to eliminate the remaining 2%: Alabama Rep. Danny Garrett of Trussville has written a bill to eliminate the grocery tax statewide, and he plans to introduce the legislation in the next legislative session (https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2026/09/27/rep-garrett-to-introduce-bill-eliminating-grocery-tax-in-alabama/). - [2026-09-27] Garrett cannot pre-file the bill before December 2026 due to the legislative quadrennium/election-year rules: due to the quadrennium, Garrett said he could not yet pre-file the bill for the next session... because this is an election year, a bill cannot be filed for the next session until all new members are in place (https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2026/09/27/rep-garrett-to-introduce-bill-eliminating-grocery-tax-in-alabama/). - [2026-09-27] Bipartisan political momentum appears strong: both major-party gubernatorial candidates, Tuberville and Jones, have expressed support for eliminating the grocery tax during their campaigns (https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2026/09/27/rep-garrett-to-introduce-bill-eliminating-grocery-tax-in-alabama/). - [2026-09-27] Track record of prior Garrett-sponsored cuts suggests high likelihood of smooth passage if introduced: "I carried the original grocery tax reduction a couple years ago, and we took 50% of the tax, the 4%, we took 2 cents of that off, over a 2 year period," Garrett said ; his previous bills in 2023 and 2025 passed without any recorded opposition. - [2026 Q3] Legislative calendar: Alabama's 2027 regular session is set to begin February 2, 2027 (organizational session January 12, 2027), with prefiling opening December 1, 2026, per the Multistate legislative calendar. - [2026-04-01] Advocacy groups (Alabama Arise) and conservative think tanks (Alabama Policy Institute) have both pushed for full elimination for years, indicating sustained bipartisan advocacy pressure: the Legislature reduced the levy on groceries from 4% to 3% in 2023, and from 3% to 2% last year... House Democrats largely supported the bill but said they had been working to eliminate the grocery tax for several years (https://alabamareflector.com/2026/04/01/alabama-house-attaches-grocery-tax-holiday-to-overtime-pay-deduction-bill/). - [2026-08-14] Think tank commentary framed the 2% cut as incomplete, pressing lawmakers to "finish the job" and eliminate the remaining tax, reflecting continued outside pressure (https://alabamapolicy.org/2025/08/14/justin-bogie-alabamas-grocery-tax-cut-is-a-win-but-lawmakers-should-finish-the-job/). - Base rate observation: In the only two opportunities the Legislature has had to pass a permanent grocery-tax-rate cut since the modern push began (2023, 2025), it succeeded both times (100% success rate), each unanimously or near-unanimously; the one non-permanent attempt (2026 holiday) also passed easily but did not count as "enactment below 2%" since it was temporary and reverted. BOTTOM LINE: The historical base rate for Alabama permanently lowering the grocery tax is very high once a bill is formally introduced — both prior rate cuts (2023, 2025) passed essentially unopposed — and a bill to eliminate the remaining 2% is already drafted by the original sponsor with bipartisan gubernatorial-candidate support, but it cannot be introduced until the new 2027 session (starts Feb 2, 2027) due to quadrennium rules, leaving roughly five months before the July 1, 2027 deadline for the process (introduction, passage, and signature) to be completed. NOT FOUND: No direct polling or betting-market data specific to this bill's passage odds; no confirmation that Garrett's draft bill has been assigned a bill number or scheduled for a floor vote; no official fiscal-note estimate for full elimination's cost to the Education Trust Fund for FY2027/2028.

YES means: Alabama enacts a law permanently cutting the state sales/use tax on groceries below 2% (i.e., full repeal or further reduction) before July 1, 2027, with all constitutional/legal requirements for enactment completed. - [2026-10-05] The Education Trust Fund (ETF) closed fiscal 2026 with a healthy cash position: the Education Trust Fund ended the fiscal year with a preliminary cash balance of about $1.06 billion before transfers required under the state's Rolling Reserve Act , giving lawmakers a fiscal cushion to argue elimination is affordable, reinforcing Garrett's Sept. 14 affordability claim. - [2026-04-21] The 2027 Regular Session will begin February 2, 2027, after an Organizational Session on January 12, 2027, confirmed by the Legislature's own sine-die report: the Legislature adjourned sine die on Day 30, ending the 2026 Regular Session; unless Governor Kay Ivey calls a special session, lawmakers will next meet for the 2027 Organizational Session on January 12, 2027, and the 2027 Regular Session begins February 2, 2027 — leaving roughly five months to pass and sign a bill before the July 1, 2027 deadline, matching the pace of the 2023 and 2025 cuts (both passed within the Feb–May window). - [2026-10-09] An independent legislative-tracking source corroborates the same February 2, 2027 start and gives a formal adjournment date: Alabama's 2027 session is slated to run from 2/2/27 to an adjournment around 5/13/27, with the pre-file window opening 12/1/26 — all well before the July 1, 2027 close, per Multistate's tracker. - [2026-09-14] The lead Republican sponsor's affordability argument is now concrete: Garrett noted his 2025 bill (HB386, 3%→2%) was estimated to cost House Bill 386 in 2025 that reduced the tax from three percent to two percent... it was estimated that the state's education trust fund would lose nearly $122 million annually , a loss the ETF absorbed without harming education funding, which he cites as proof the final 2% cut is likewise sustainable. - [2026-09-14] Garrett's draft bill reportedly includes a local-tax guardrail carried over from prior cuts: the bill, like the previous bills, contains language to protect taxpayers at the local level... to prevent local governments from enacting a local tax to capture funds consumers were already accustomed to paying — a design feature that helped the 2023/2025 bills pass unanimously by neutralizing local-government objections. - [2026-09-14] Both chief legislative sponsors from opposing parties are aligned: both Representatives Garrett and McClammy said they plan to file legislation for 2027 to get rid of the remaining two percent tax on groceries , meaning the bill that stalled in 2026 (McClammy's HB336, per colleagues' prior report) now has the more powerful original architect (Garrett) also pushing an equivalent bill, raising the odds of a unified, well-vetted vehicle rather than a repeat of a single committee-killed bill. - [2026-09-14] Statewide political cover extends beyond the governor's race: several candidates campaigning for statewide office pledged to support repealing the grocery tax in Alabama, including both the Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor — meaning the incoming Lt. Governor (who presides over the Senate) on both sides also backs repeal, a structural advantage absent in earlier sessions. - [2026-10-08] Alabama Arise, the advocacy group credited with keeping pressure on the issue for over a decade, has now made repeal its explicit top 2027 priority, with its director calling for lawmakers to "act quickly" in 2027 — an organized, resourced lobbying push aimed squarely at the session window before the July 1, 2027 deadline. - [2023–2025 precedent, re-confirmed 2026-10] Garrett has sponsored and passed every prior permanent-rate-cut bill (2023 and 2025) and this is the same legislator now driving the 2027 effort with a bill already drafted (per colleagues' Sept 27 report), which is the single most-likely concrete path to YES: Garrett's bill introduced early in the Feb 2, 2027 session, moving through Senate/House committees by March, and signed by the new governor (Tuberville or Jones, both publicly pro-repeal) well before the May 13, 2027 adjournment and the July 1, 2027 deadline. - [Mechanism note] Because Alabama's prior cuts took effect via simple statute (not constitutional amendment) and passed 31-0 and 34-0 with no gubernatorial veto threat, the legal bar for enactment here is comparatively low — only ordinary bicameral passage plus signature (or inaction) is required, which is a much easier path than amendments needing supermajority/ratification. BOTTOM LINE: With the original cosponsor (Garrett) having a bill already drafted, matching bipartisan sponsor McClammy filing a companion effort, both governor and lieutenant-governor nominees of both parties publicly committed to full repeal, Alabama Arise organizing a dedicated 2027 campaign, and the ETF carrying a $1.06B cash cushion, all the ingredients that produced two prior unanimous permanent cuts are again present — and the 2027 session's Feb 2–~May 13 timeline fits comfortably within the question's July 1, 2027 deadline, making a third permanent cut a plausible, well-evidenced path to YES. NOT FOUND: No bill number yet assigned to Garrett's or McClammy's 2027 grocery-tax bill (pre-filing opens Dec. 1, 2026); no fiscal note yet published for full elimination of the remaining 2%; no on-record position from presumptive new Governor-elect (election outcome itself not yet determined in these results) specifically endorsing Garrett's exact bill text; no confirmation of a Senate companion sponsor by name.

YES means: Alabama enacts a law permanently cutting the state sales/use tax on SNAP-eligible groceries below 2% before July 1, 2027. - [2026-09-14] Despite the 2023-2025 pattern of consensus cuts, the only prior attempt at *full* elimination — a 2008 constitutional amendment — passed the Alabama House of Representatives in 2008, but failed to attract the necessary votes in the Senate, even though both chambers were controlled by Democrats at the time, with subsequent efforts getting little traction until 2023 , showing full repeal (as opposed to partial cuts) has a weak historical success rate even under favorable party control. - [2026-09-14] Garrett's drafted bill has no funding mechanism: Garrett's plan to repeal the grocery tax altogether does not include a provision to replace the lost revenue, with Garrett saying "we have the wherewithal to repeal it" based on growth projections and expense review rather than a concrete offset — an unresolved point that killed earlier repeal pushes. - [2026-09-14] There is no cross-party consensus on how to backfill the ETF: Alabama Arise wants to end the federal income-tax deduction while Democrats want to eliminate the CHOOSE Act... "When we lift the caps off of the ability to have taxpayer money going to private schools for the wealthiest people in this state, I think we can offset this a good bit," Jones said — competing, mutually exclusive replacement plans increase the odds of gridlock. - [2026-09-14] The dollar cost is now pinned at a specific, non-trivial figure: The cost to fully eliminate the remaining 2% state sales tax on food would be approximately $270 million , a material hit to a budget that is no longer flush with the surplus growth that enabled 2023/2025 cuts. - [2026-09-14] Revenue growth has already slowed and was distorted by the 2026 holiday: in 2025 the sales tax rate on food brought $393.5 million to the Education Trust Fund... LSA expects total collections from the grocery tax for the year will be about $230 million, artificially lower because of a two-month sales tax holiday on food in May and June , meaning lawmakers face a lower, less certain revenue baseline when weighing a further permanent cut. - [2026-09-14] Even the Republican gubernatorial frontrunner's commitment looks soft in writing: As of early Friday afternoon, Tuberville's campaign website did not explicitly list cutting the grocery tax among his priorities , despite a general-election ad invoking "elimination" — rhetorical support has not yet translated into a documented policy commitment. - [2026-09-25] Independent coverage frames the outcome as genuinely unresolved rather than a formality: Legislators are expected to debate the repeal in the upcoming 2027 session... Revenue from the tax supports the state's Education Trust Fund, creating budgetary challenges for a full repeal , and a named lawmaker frames the test as "whether we are prepared to actually pass the legislation," not merely to campaign on it. - [2026-10-08 confirmed] Multistate's tracker shows the 2027 Alabama regular session runs only from February 2 to adjournment around mid-May 2027 (per the Multistate legislative calendar), a compressed 30-legislative-day window inside a brand-new quadrennium where committee chairs and leadership must first be organized (Jan. 12 organizational session) — a tight runway in which any single procedural snag (as happened to HB336, which died in committee in the 2026 session despite having a sponsor and some support) could push final passage past session's end, which — absent a special session — would leave no further legislative vehicle before the July 1, 2027 deadline. - [2023-10-12 historical] Even when Republican legislative majorities and a cooperative lieutenant governor floated eventual full repeal, Garrett himself cautioned that "there is no timetable for that," illustrating a longstanding tendency for leadership to express directional support while slow-walking a concrete bill — the same dynamic now resurfacing as some GOP leaders tout fiscal caution over the ETF. - [2026 session precedent] The only 2026 bill that would have gone further than the temporary holiday — Rep. McClammy's HB336 to eliminate the remaining 2% — did not survive committee despite the same bipartisan sentiment now cited for 2027, demonstrating that favorable polling and campaign talk have not reliably converted into floor votes even one cycle ago. - [Mechanism risk] Because Alabama's pocket-veto rule gives the governor up to ten days to act on bills delivered late in session, any grocery-tax bill passed near the 2027 adjournment (projected mid-May) could still be vetoed, left unsigned, or returned for further action, adding a non-trivial tail risk even if legislative passage occurs. BOTTOM LINE: A full repeal bill is only drafted, not filed, has no agreed funding replacement, faces a tight new-quadrennium session window, and follows a documented history (2008 amendment, 2026 HB336) of similar proposals stalling even amid public support — giving status-quo inertia and procedural/fiscal friction a real chance of keeping the grocery tax at 2% through July 1, 2027. NOT FOUND: No official bill number or committee assignment for Garrett's or McClammy's 2027 proposal; no confirmed 2027 session adjournment date from the Alabama Legislature itself (only third-party trackers, which show roughly mid-May 2027); no statement from Governor-elect/Ivey's successor (not yet elected as of Oct. 9, 2026) on whether they would sign a no-offset repeal bill.