With pet food prices rising, state lawmaker proposes exempting it from sales tax

You’ve heard of inflation, but what about “petflation”? The term refers to the rising price for dog, cat and other pet food. The cost of ingredients like meat and grain, as well as supply chain issues, have led to higher prices since the pandemic.

Nearly 60% of households in Texas have a pet – mostly dogs and cats – according to the Census Bureau.

State Rep. Mary González, a Democrat representing eastern El Paso County, has introduced a bill this legislative session that could provide some relief by eliminating the 8.25% sales tax on pet food. She joined the Standard to share more.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: How did you get the idea for this bill? 

Mary González: Well, a couple of things. First, I’m very highly committed to addressing the crisis we have in our animal shelters. Second, I live in a rural part of El Paso County where I see dogs dumped literally weekly.

And third, with all of the questions around families and affordability, this really became a topic from some constituents. And so all of these things kind of manifested in the creation of this bill. 

Tell us a little bit about the details of the bill and how you expect it to help families or people with pets. 

Sure. So I think it’s really important for us to understand the benefits of pets. For example, 86% of pet owners talk about how having a pet improves their mental health.

We also know from a research project at Johns Hopkins that having a pet can reduce Alzheimer’s and dementia, loneliness and depression, and even boost heart health.

So the average dog owner spends about $363 a year on dog food. And if we could make that tax-free, it might help some families. 

Even during the pandemic, as prices crept up for other items and inflation grew, pet food in particular has become very expensive. I recall seeing an older couple in a pet food store with a calculator, adding up each and every item. And I just thought, well, this has become a hardship for a lot of people. 

The truth is, a lot of times pets are like our family, and we don’t have sales tax on food. So why would this be any different for another member of our family?

And so, you know, if we really want to tackle the fact that Texas has one of the highest kill rates in animal shelters, then we have to make it even a little bit easier for people to own dogs and cats in our state. 

What is your sense about support or backing for this bill?

I have not talked to my colleagues personally; I have had a couple reach out and say they really like the bill.

But I will say, to me, this is a common-sense piece of legislation: a piece of legislation that has an impact on our local government, like hopefully creating an ease on our animal shelters, a common-sense solution by having health benefits and supporting our families and affordability.

I mean, these are all things that are not partisan and we should all be trying to accomplish.

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What happens from here; what’s the schedule? Do you anticipate anything happening this legislative session?

We definitely filed the bill hoping it’ll pass. So right now, we’re still waiting for House committees. But as soon as the House committees come out and the bill gets assigned, we’ll be fighting really hard for it to get a committee hearing and moving it through the process as fast as possible.

Again, we hope that all parties involved in legislative process will understand how common sense this is to do for our families.

Lastly, do you expect any kind of pushback or anyone to say, “well, we can’t afford this; this is a lot of money, and the state needs it” or what? Any idea that someone could oppose this?

Well, it’s politics. But I hope that when people listen to all the benefits, whether you care about health care or whether you care about families and affordability or whether you care about local governments, there’s always a reason to support this bill.

And so I’m sure through conversation, we can get a majority of the Legislature to understand how this simple piece of legislation can make a difference and in a variety of ways. So we’re just hoping to help provide both some goodness and some common-sense solutions to the legislative session this year.

If you really like the bill, please contact our office. Feel free to contact the leadership: The speaker, the governor, lieutenant governor. Because of everything that’s happening in the legislative session, it is hard for bills to get through the process this year. So we need all the help we can get collectively.

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