PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The New York Times, in a series this week analyzing state business tax breaks nationally, wrongly includes Rhode Island's sales-tax exemption on groceries, says the state's revenue analysis chief.
The Times' story "United States of Subsidies" found that the top three industries benefiting from tax subsidies in Rhode Island were food ($156 million), manufacturing ($61.6 million) and trucking ($18.4 million).
But Paul L. Dion, head of the state Office of Revenue Analysis, says that the $156 million, which the Times cites as coming from a "Food and Food Ingredients Exemption," represents the state's lost revenue from not subjecting groceries to the state's 7 percent sales tax.
"That's not really an incentive, in my mind," Dion said. "To say that is an incentive for the food industry is not accurate."
Most states do not tax groceries; no New England state does.
The Times' series examined business incentives and their impact on jobs and local economies.
It found that Rhode Island spends at least $356 million a year on tax credits and incentives, or roughly $338 per capita.
That places Rhode Island fourth among New England states in terms of per capital spending on tax subsidies, after Vermont ($650 per capita), Maine ($379 per capita) and Massachusetts ($345 per capita), according to the Times.
Overall, the Times found that local and state governments give up more than $80 billion a year to companies.