Food Access Tax Incentive
Issue: Ensuring a Sustainable Future
Target Level of Office: State
Policy Origin: Florida State Legislature
Poilcy/Bill Number: Senate Bill 426
Link: www.YEONetwork.org/2013policy/?i=207
YEO Sponsor:
Sen. Dwight Bullard (Author)
Summary Narrative of the Policy: This bill would provide an income tax credit to encourage
businesses and corner stores to sell nutrient-dense food items in areas designated “food
deserts.”
Relevant Talking Points & Important Information:
• Millions of Americans live in the middle of a food desert. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture defines food deserts as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready
access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food” which “[i]nstead of supermarkets and
grocery stores […] have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and
convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options.”
• The USDA estimates that 24.5 million Americans live in food deserts, and that more than
half of them – 13.5 million – are low-income.
• Food deserts can impact health and have particular relevance to our nation’s growing
trends of racial health disparities. According to a study by the Harvard School of Public
Health, people living in low-income, as well as predominantly African American and
Hispanic neighborhoods, have less access to supermarkets than those who reside in
middle-income or predominantly white neighborhoods. In fact, fast food options are
disproportionately saturated in these low-come, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods.
• In fact, families on SNAP have reported a desire to eat healthfully but sometimes must
“compromise nutrition and variety in their diets to ensure that they can provide enough
food for the least expense.”
Policy
2014 Book
State Level
31