TRENTON – Mikie Sherrill journeyed south Tuesday morning to talk about lowering food prices by helping independent grocers survive.

The congresswoman from CD-11 in north Jersey stood outside Compare Fresh of Trenton, a supermarket on Hamilton Avenue, to trumpet proposed federal legislation to give tax credits to grocers operating in areas with “moderate to high market concentration.”  Or in other words, small businesses threatened by large, corporate-owned supermarkets.

“While the four largest food retail companies accounted for about 25 percent of national grocery sales in 1990, the four largest companies today account for 53 percent of sales,” according to a fact sheet distributed by the congresswoman’s office.

Her proposal would increase a series of tax credits, including:
The Rehabilitation Tax Credit for investments in the restoration and re-use of historic buildings, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for the hiring and employment of certain workers, Bonus Depreciation for the purchase of certain investments in new or upgraded equipment or property, and the Qualified Business Income Deduction for certain businesses’ pass-through income.

The bill also would create a new Food Retail Business Tax Credit equal to 15 percent of a small food retailer’s capital investment in its first three years of operation.

None of this has a chance of happening until after the election. To that end, Sherrill is looking for co-sponsors.

Sherrill was joined by Dan Benson, the Mercer County executive.

Benson said another component is keeping grocers operating in so-called food deserts – locales where residents have a limited number of inexpensive and healthy food choices.

Asked why she was holding her event in Mercer County, Sherrill said that’s because the area is overly-threatened by the market concentration her bill is designed to combat.

The Compare Fresh outlet is a small, full-service supermarket that on this chilly day seemed to be doing a good business. The congresswoman, in fact, complimented the tasty-looking buffet spread.

Not surprisingly, Sherrill was asked after the event about any plans she has to run for governor.

Despite having made no announcement, the congresswoman already has picked up some endorsements.

She deflected any gubernatorial inquiries by remaining focused on getting reelected on Nov. 5 and also on the larger task on the horizon.

“Right now … we have 21 days left until the election, so it’s sort of all hands-on deck for getting Kamala Harris into the White House and getting all our congressional candidates into office, including our red to blue candidate, Sue Altman.”