News

Biloxi, Miss. (Sun Herald) - Faced with record gas prices, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is calling for the suspension of the state’s 18.4 cents gas tax. Hosemann is asking for a six-month suspension. “The No. 1 concern citizens are discussing around their kitchen tables is the increased cost of goods and services,” Hosemann said in announcement of the proposal. “Reducing what Mississippians are paying at the pump is direct and immediate relief to families.” Mississippi along with the rest of the country has been faced with surging gas costs amid the the war in Ukraine and other economic factors. Although much of the recent price experts attribute to the war in Ukraine, prices were on the rise before this. [...]

Tupelo, Miss. (Daily Journal) - A new analysis from state economists says that if lawmakers adopt a tax cut plan being pushed by House leaders, private employment would increase, but a large revenue shortfall would loom over state government. Corey Miller and Sondra Collins, two state economists , released an analysis on House Bill 531 predicting that the state’s gross domestic product and private employment would increase but that net revenue and overall employment would fall sharply over the next 13 years. “The long term impacts to the economy were positive, but relatively small in terms of GDP and private employment and personal income,” Miller told the Daily Journal. “We think it can have some positive effects, but those are [...]

Jackson, Miss. (Mississippi Today) - Editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau sat down with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to discuss the historic amount of federal money Mississippi has to spend from the American Rescue Plan Act. Hosemann spoke about the Legislature’s decision process in determining what pressing state issues to use the funds on. Watch the full conversation here.

Jackson, Miss. (Mississippi Today) - While the state legislative leadership is consumed with cutting or eliminating the income tax, state business leaders consider lack of skilled workers, Mississippi’s image and problems from the pandemic far more pressing issues. “… The Mississippi tax environment was not high profile nor even discussed significantly as a priority,” said a report released by the Mississippi Economic Council at the state Capitol on Wednesday, based on dozens of meetings and hundreds of surveys of business leaders across the state last year. “… A businessman raised the topic (at one meeting) and dismissed it as a bad idea (a distraction issue, but not really a hindrance to most businesses).” MEC released the report, “Securing Mississippi’s Future,” [...]

Jackson, Miss. (Northside Sun) - The debate about tax cuts within the Mississippi Republican Party is getting pretty interesting. House Speaker Philip Gunn, with supposed aspirations for higher office, wants to blow it out of the water with what he has said, and possibly accurately so, would be the largest tax cut in state history. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who appears to have no higher ambitions than the state’s No. 2 job, has adopted a more conservative approach, looking to cut roughly one-fifth as much as Gunn. We are not convinced the state can afford for the long term either one of these plans. But if we had to choose between the two of them, the plan in Hosemann’s Senate [...]

Jackson, Miss. (Mississippi Today) - Numbers crunched at the state Senate’s request by the Legislative Budget Office show a House income tax elimination plan would cause a huge budget hole starting in its second year. But House leaders say those projections discount booming state revenue, and a modest Senate tax cut plan would not give taxpayers real relief at a time when state coffers are full. The dueling tax cut proposals could provide the political battle of the year as the 2022 legislative session enters its home stretch. Republican leaders in the House and Senate both want income tax cuts, but they remain far apart on their plans and leaders from each side are criticizing the other. The major difference [...]