A crowd gathered outside the Alabama State House today to urge lawmakers to repeal the state sales tax on food, an idea that has been proposed without success for decades but that appears to have more support this year.

Alabama Arise Action, which has advocated for more than 20 years to repeal the tax, organized a news conference that included two Democratic lawmakers who said they would introduce bills to repeal the 4 percent state tax on food. Republican legislators have also introduced bills. Alabama is one of only three states, along with Mississippi and South Dakota, that collects the full state sales tax on food.

Rep. Patrice McClammy, D-Montgomery, said she knows what families face trying to stretch dollars to cover necessities, including food and the sales tax it carries. Alabama Arise says the average family spends $600 a year on the state sales tax on food.

“I know what it feels like to make decisions on buying Depends, Ensure, medication,” McClammy said. “What we call healthy foods, the most expensive foods in the grocery store. I know what it feels like to have to buy aspirin for blood thinners. I know what it feels like to make a decision on, ‘We have to pay our bills right now.’ You pull in the whole family because when you retire sometimes you make less than what you made. So the whole family pulls their income together.”

McClammy and Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove said they are working on bills to repeal the grocery tax. One reason previous proposals to repeal the state sales tax on groceries is that the tax is a main funding source for public education, providing more than $600 million a year to the Education Trust Fund. Coleman said her proposal would replace that revenue by repealing the state income tax deduction for federal income taxes, which she said disproportionately benefits higher income taxpayers. Coleman’s bill would require a constitutional amendment to be approved by voters.

“We have more equitable and fair ways to fund our education budget than taking food away from families who are struggling to pinch every penny to keep food on the table,” Coleman said.

Coleman and McClammy have not yet introduced their bills. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur has introduced a bill to gradually repeal the tax, taking off one percentage point each year over four years. The reduced rate would apply only to certain basic foods, like eggs, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, infant formula. The list is based on the foods that are available through the federal Women, Infants, and Children food assistance program. The bill would pause the annual reductions in the tax rate if revenue growth to the Education Trust Fund fell below 5 percent. Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, has introduced the same bill in the House. Garrett said it would reduce revenue to education trust fund by about $200 million a year. Orr and Garrett are the chairmen of the education budget committees in the House and Senate.

Alabama Arise is calling for broader legislation than Orr’s proposal, one that would repeal the tax on all foods eligible under the SNAP program, previously known as food stamps. Alabama Arise Executive Director Robyn Hyden told the crowd today that families need immediate relief from the tax instead of the phased approach. Hyden said Alabama Arise is involved in ongoing discussions about legislation.

Coleman said she would support other bills to repeal the tax but said would prefer her version. Coleman said the multiple proposals would stimulate more discussion and help advance the issue.

McClammy told the crowd she hopes that lawmakers are not having the same discussions at this time next year. “We’ve talked about this over and over and over,” McClammy said. “And it’s time. You all come here every year and stand right here and you send your message that we need to take our sales tax off of groceries. You send us here. You elect us to be your mouthpiece. You have spoken. It’s time for us to speak up here now.”