No talk of new Miss. taxes during crunch

State News

November 10, 2009

Anonymous Picayune Item Tue Nov 10, 2009, 07:37 AM CST

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and key legislators say they won’t try to offset Mississippi’s sluggish revenue with a tax increase in 2010, but fees are open for discussion.

Mississippi’s economic situation mirrors the rest of the nation. State revenue is down by $111.6 million for the first four months of the current fiscal year. Barbour cut nearly $172 million from the $6-billion budget in September and warned future spending reductions would be unavoidable. The governor said last week as much as $200 million more could be trimmed before the fiscal year ends June 30.

Barbour said a tax increase won’t be an option to generate revenue.

“We may adjust some fees,” Barbour said. “The two guiding principles for me are that we want to do things that help create private-sector jobs. We will also try not to do things to reduce private-sector jobs, which is what a tax increase would do.”

A similar sentiment has been shared by House Speaker Billy McCoy, a Democrat from Rienzi. McCoy said only minor fee increases would be considered by lawmakers when they convene in January. McCoy said taxes increases would not.

No one has elaborated on which fees are being eyed for an increase.

The first glimpse of lawmakers’ proposals comes Dec. 2, when the Joint Legislative Budget Committee releases its spending recommendations for the fiscal year that begins next July 1. Barbour is expected to release his budget plan in late November.

It’s not surprising there’s no tax talk for now, especially since lawmakers — with Barbour’s support — increased the cigarette excise tax and a hospital tax earlier this year.

In recent years, Mississippians have seen the price of traffic fines and speeding tickets go up. Last session, legislators approved increases on some Department of Insurance licensing fees and authorized a Department of Environmental Quality fee for surface-mine worker safety training.

The Budget Committee last week reduced the estimate for the state’s general fund for the current fiscal year. They also set the initial estimate for how much money the state might spend during the budget year that begins next July 1. It is three-tenths of 1 percent higher than the new estimate for the current year.

The new general fund estimate for the current year is nearly $4.6 billion, down from about $4.9 billion. With federal stimulus payments, a lawsuit settlement and some other money on top of the general fund, state spending had been close to $6 billion.

Barbour said spending next year will have to be $550 million to $600 million less than this year.

“That’s on top of the fact that a lot of departments and agencies took 5 to 7 percent cuts already,” he said. “State revenue continues to fall. Plus we’re going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.”

Ed Sivak, director of the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, a group that advocates policies to help people with low or moderate incomes, is among those who believe the scalpel approach won’t fix the state’s budget problems.

Sivak has said tax increases should be on the table. Sivak said legislators could consider updating the state income tax and expanding sales taxes. He also suggested increasing some user fees to regional averages.

“As the needs of Mississippi’s working families continue to increase, the state has fewer resources to meet their needs,” Sivak said. “Solving a problem this big requires a balanced approach that includes raising revenues. A cuts only strategy will only hold Mississippi back when prosperity returns.”

Text Only

State News

Miss. high court hears arguments over pardons Feuding attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to determine the validity of pardons that Haley Barbour gave to convicted killers and other convicts during his final days as governor. Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the court would not rule Thursday, but he didn’t say when a decision would come.
February 10, 2012
Senate votes to merge 3 Sunflower school districts The Mississippi Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would merge Sunflower County’s three school districts into one, easing into the politically sensitive topic of consolidation by focusing on a single area in the impoverished Delta.
February 9, 2012
Kansas, Missouri fight to keep Marine data center
Kansas and Missouri officials are working together to fend off New Orleans’ effort to lure a Marine Corps data center and its 400 high-paying jobs away from Kansas City.
The congressional delegations and governors from both states have written to Marine Corps Commandant James F. Amos, arguing to keep the center where it is.

February 8, 2012
Judge temporarily blocks Mississippi execution
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the execution of a Mississippi inmate who killed two men during a robbery spree in 1995. The man’s attorneys asked for the order, not arguing guilt or innocence, but that corrections officials prevented Edwin Hart Turner from getting medical tests that could prove he is mentally ill.

February 7, 2012
New rules, tests proposed for public aid in Miss.
People who receive public assistance would be subject to random testing for drugs or nicotine and would have to perform community service under new requirements being considered by Mississippi lawmakers.

February 4, 2012
Home strengthening may lower insurance
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said he is working with legislators on a bill that would require insurers to offer discounts to homeowners who have strengthened homes against wind damage.
State officials told the Sun Herald that they hope the reinforcement of roofing, doors, windows and other components also will qualify homeowners for insurance discounts, although there are no guarantees.

February 4, 2012
Inmate asks courts to stop execution
Condemned inmate Edwin Hart Turner’s lawyer told a federal judge Friday that a corrections policy prevented Turner from getting tests that could prove he’s mentally ill and ineligible for execution.

February 4, 2012
Pardoned killer to fight return to Mississippi
A convicted murderer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour seems poised to fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney, Robert Moxley, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will defend Ozment’s freedom if he decides to try to stay in Wyoming.

February 3, 2012
Universities say financial aid fund running short
Recipients of state scholarships could see their aid packages trimmed unless the Mississippi Legislature puts more money into financial aid. That includes the more than 20,000 students who receive the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant.

February 3, 2012
Bad info infuriated kin of pardoned man’s victims
In another twist in the often confusing aftermath of pardons granted by former Gov. Haley Barbour on his way out of office, Mississippi corrections officials said Tuesday that victims’ relatives were given bad information by the state that fanned their outrage.

February 2, 2012
More State News Headlines

State News

Search Results

No talk of new Miss. taxes during crunch

Site Map

Contact Us