Tennessee

Sales Tax on Food	Yes
Rate	6% Fundamental tax rate, plus other local taxes(average tax rate on food is 3.88%)
Rebates or credits	No
Poverty level	13.8% (16th in state ranking)
Food Insecurity	13.0% (10th in state ranking)
Other notable information	Although Tennessee’s sales tax is fairly expensive, they do celebrate the occasional tax free weekend
Unemployment Rate	4.1 (31st in state ranking)

Overall grade: 41

Comments: Tennessee may have a reduced tax rate for foods, but it is still extremely high, and it is in the top 10 highest ranking places for food insecurity, not to mention a high poverty level as well. The redeeming quality for this state, however, is the unemployment rate. This state still has quite a bit of work concerning hunger and poverty.

The Score Card

http://www.cbpp.org/3-16-06sfp3.htm

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ranking/2003/R01T040.htm

http://www.frac.org/pdf/hunger05rank.pdf

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/state_unemployment/state.html