As the owners of an independent grocery store serving rural Skamania County, we’ve seen a lot – supply chain disruptions, rising fuel costs, labor shortages. Through it all, we’ve stayed committed to one thing: making sure our neighbors can put affordable, healthy, safe food on the table.
Now, we are faced with a new challenge that threatens to do what record inflation and a global pandemic couldn’t: a tax increase that inadvertently targets the small, independent grocer like us. Just last week, lawmakers in Washington decided to include an additional .5% surcharge tax on independent food wholesalers who sell to businesses like mine.
Meanwhile, the big box, national retail grocery chains, which have their own distribution network, were intentionally excluded from the surcharge. Those chains will now have an even greater competitive advantage over every small, independent grocer like me. It’s why we, along with the 1,600 members of the Washington Food Industry Association, are appealing to Gov. Bob Ferguson in the hopes that he will step in and veto this new tax on Washingtonians.
To be clear, this tax doesn’t just hit our store’s bottom line. It affects every family that shops here. We run on razor-thin margins. In fact, the average independent grocer operates on a 1.1% profit margin. When costs go up from our wholesalers, we have no choice but to pass those increases on to customers. It’s simple math.
Operating with thin profit margins and already struggling with supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures, our stores have little room to absorb additional costs. Unlike large national chains that can offset taxes through economies of scale or shift burdens across locations, small grocers have no such cushion. For us, a tax might mean cutting staff hours and reducing inventory – or worse, shutting down entirely. Independent grocers play a pivotal role as private employers, often providing first jobs for young people or adults in need of stable employment opportunities.
Neighborhood grocery stores also play a prominent role as leaders in their communities. For us, that means supporting the Skamania Food Bank and the Downtown Association and providing food for various holiday events. We are also active supporters of our first responders, school programs, youth sports and other nonprofit organizations. When a local grocery store closes, the consequences ripple outward: food deserts expand, nutrition suffers and rural resilience erodes.
Inevitably, the burden of higher grocery costs falls on the most vulnerable people: the consumers. This is a regressive tax shouldered by those who can least afford it. In fact, the timing of this could not be worse. According to the most recent Washington State Food Security survey conducted from August 2024 through October 2024 by the University of Washington, Washington State University and the Washington State Department of Agriculture, rising food prices and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance programs have intensified economic pressures on households statewide.
The survey finds that 84% of food-insecure households reported high stress, and 82% of respondents said they were worried about future price increases. This was before lawmakers added this latest tax. And let’s not forget that lawmakers added another 6-cent per gallon fuel increase, which drives up the costs for everyone, but mostly consumers.
We are also dealing with national policies that are directly impacting our stores. The new tariffs are also threatening to raise the price of groceries for our customers. If the goal is to strengthen local economies and support equitable access to food, this combination of tariffs and increased state taxes is counterproductive and potentially devastating for businesses like ours.
Independent grocers, neighborhood and convenience stores are the lifeblood of communities all over Washington. In some communities, we are the only grocery option. Our stores deserve support, not penalties.
Washington lawmakers should find ways to reduce our costs – not raise them – so that we can continue serving the communities that rely on us every day.
Andra and John Mobley are the owners/operators of A&J Market in Stevenson.
