Hattiesburg, Miss. (WDAM) – A tax break is on the table in the Mississippi State Senate.
“He has proposed between $400 and $500 million worth of tax cuts to Mississippians,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
Hosemann and Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins unveiled a $446.6 million tax relief package to the state senate Tuesday.
“I think it’s critical to have tax relief to Mississippians,” Hosemann said. “It’s also critical for us to have our teachers paid, our infrastructure and our roads and bridges repaired, our health insurance paid, our troopers paid a decent salary… all of the things Mississippians expect us to pay.”
According to the Lt. Governor, the key takeaways from the nearly half a billion-dollar package include reducing taxes on things like groceries, car tags and more.
“We’re proposing legislation an elimination of the four percent tax bracket,” Hosemann said. “That’s $46 million dollars a year for a total of $185 million dollars. Reducing the grocery tax from seven to five percent… We will reduce the car tag portion that the state gets which is a smaller amount which is about $13 million dollars. And then one of the things that we thought was very appropriate was to give our taxpayers their money back.”
He says this package recommends taxpayers will get back about $130 million in checks.
“You’ll get a minimum of $100 if you paid any taxes this year and then you get basically five percent of the amount that you paid up to a $1,000 maximum,” Hosemann said.
According to Hosemann, part of the reason the tax relief package is being proposed is due to inflation.
“When you talk to anyone that goes to the grocery store, expenses and inflation are the number one things that people are talking about at the kitchen table,” Hosemann said. “Gas products, other products all are facing our cost of living. It’s facing our people and to give an immediate reduction on the grocery tax which was $118 million was, I thought, very appropriate.”
He says a bill for the package will be drafted and proposed to the Senate before the end of the month. We’re told the bill is expected to be passed by the end of this legislative session.