Attorney General Jim Hood issued the following statement.
Greater government transparency; lower taxes; and better quality of life
for working families among top priorities
Attorney General Jim Hood called for rolling back the sales tax on groceries and requiring all legislators and statewide officeholders to open their backroom deals to the public as part of a seven-point "Pledge to Mississippi Families" unveiled today as he officially qualified for governor in the upcoming 2019 contest.
"I'm running for governor to move working families to the center of what matters. I will put working families first," said General Hood in remarks to supporters at Mississippi's new Museums of Civil Rights and History. "This isn't about party; it's not about partisanship -- there's already too much of that dragging our state down. This race is about getting work done and building a brighter future for our children and grandchildren."
Specifically, General Hood made a "Pledge to Mississippi Families" that calls for:
* Honest and transparent government; and putting a stop to shady, backroom deals.
* Requiring all state legislators and statewide officials to allow the public to have access to all of their emails and other correspondence under the Mississippi Open Records Act.
* Providing tax relief for families by rolling back the sales tax on groceries.
* Fixing our crumbling roads and deteriorating bridges.
* Improving education -- from statewide pre-K, to teacher pay, to making college more affordable.
* Expanding workforce development and job training at community colleges and technical schools.
* Keeping rural hospitals open and fighting for accessible, quality healthcare.
"By way of our lieutenant governor, Mississippi has given out hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to big out-of-state corporations that should have gone to fixing our roads, improving our schools, or giving tax relief to our own Mississippi businesses and working families," said General Hood. "I want to see a rollback on the sales tax on food. It's hard enough for families to make ends meet. Let's make it easier to put food on the table."
By contrast, General Hood has returned to the state more than $3 billion in fines and penalties from unscrupulous corporations and individuals who thought they could rip off Mississippi taxpayers. "I know what it takes to make money for Mississippi, not give it away."
General Hood also pointed to shady insider deals by legislative leaders who have run the state like a casino for special interests -- collecting chips and handing out favors.
"My first act as governor will be to open up state government, creating greater transparency that starts with legislators and statewide officials who refuse to abide by Mississippi's open records laws," he said. "We need to take a broom and clean it out."
Now in his fourth term, General Hood has served as Attorney General of Mississippi since 2004. His commitment to the people has earned him a reputation as a dedicated prosecutor, who's focused on putting Mississippi families first.
Hood said that the core needs of working families have been overrun by the needs of special interests, partisan politicians and big money.
"We see it in the brain drain, our kids leaving Mississippi. We see it in our crumbling roads and bridges, in our subpar schools and in the paychecks of working people who pay too much in taxes for the meager amount of services they receive in return," General Hood said.
"I'm running for governor to give our state back to the people."
24 comments:
Let the blabbering begin between the right wing nuts and the left wing nuts.
in paragraph 3 hood state hes
'putting an end to shady backroom deals".......does that mean he gonna shutdown the locker room at ticos where all the lobbyists buy off the legislature ?
Has Waller actually filed yet?
Hello Darlin...
Lower taxes on groceries = raise property taxes and car tags to make up the deficit....nice try but been their, done that...no thanks
How much taxes will all of that cost, and when does he plan to restrict our firearms?
Someone...ANYONE...other than that shady a$$ Tate Reeves! Tate is a shady little man tyrant. Hood is a better choice. Tate can’t buy the governorship. He needs to stay in Rankin county where the DAMN TAXPAYERS OF MISSISSIPPI paid for his driveway and go back to being a teller in Florence. He’s running scared and threatening elected officials to sign endorsement cards for him. I know for a fact that many of them signed his little pledge card but are publicly telling people they won’t vote for him!
Friends don't let friends get hoodwinked.
How can we expect Hood to take care of the state when he doesn’t take care of his own employees now. The attorneys in his office are the lowest paid in the state. Clerkships at Supreme Court/court of appeals used to be feed into the AG’s Office. It’s gotten to a point now that clerks make more than the attorneys at the AG’s office. I worked there ten years and saw Hood ten times (Christmas no raise speech). Maybe if he had shown up more, his employees would vote for him.
IN a Hood vs. Tator election, Hood has my vote (and I normally vote R)
I understand Hood running, I understand Waller running, I don't understand Reeves running. No matter what your opinion of the Totster, from decent man trying to help his state to crooked little wannabe dick-tater, his clearer path to further elected office is the Senate. If you are a supporter, he could do more for Mississippi there, if you are an accuser, he can steal more for himself and his friends there. If Cowpie Cindy can get elected, the Totster could declare and safely start looking for a home in DC whereas in the governor's race, he is currently 50-50 AT BEST. The strange thing about it all, either Waller or Hood would be a better governor in broad, general terms and love him or hate him, Tate is better suited to the Senate than a governorship like the Mississippi governorship. And to top it off, Reeves has a war chest that would just about guarantee him the seat and still have some left over, but the run for governor against Hood was always going to be pricey, and with each new candidate, the price keeps climbing. Hell, in a Senate run, Reeves would get a measurable number of Dems supporting him, whereas in the governor's race, he'll be fighting just to get MSGOPers and will have some of those same Dems fighting against him tooth and nail.
Lower taxes on groceries = raise property taxes and car tags to make up the deficit....nice try but been their, done that...no thanks
Hell, we are already paying high a** taxes on property and car tags. Hell, I am going to ask his campaign and see if he will do something to address car tags/ad valorem taxes - because that's some bullsh*t that we pay every year.
We are ranked 4th in the nation when it comes to paying high automobile fees
We are ranked 4th in the nation when it comes to paying high automobile fees
Link?
I think it's rich Hood declared his run as the D candidate on the steps of the civil rights museum. Hood pandering much?
@8:46
Identity based politics...It's what Democratic socialists do.
actually the announcement took place in a room located between the entrances to the two museums, one of which is the Museum of Mississippi History.
No.....just No.
@ March 1, 2019 at 8:34 AM
We are ranked 4th in the nation when it comes to paying high automobile fees
Link?
I have two and both are considered "conservatives sources"
From the Tax Foundation (a constant point of reference for Republican legislators in Mississippi) States Moving Away From Taxes on Tangible Personal Property - Property tax is an “ad valorem” tax, meaning that it is taxed according to the value of the property. A higher-valued property pays a higher property tax than a lower-valued property. Homeowners are quite familiar with the property tax on “real property,” that is, land, structures on the land, and fixtures attached to the structures. But property taxes can also include taxes on intangible property (such as stocks, bonds, mortgages, copyrights, and patents) and tangible personal property.
In their report, Mississippi is listed as #4 in the country with the highest ad valorem taxes
https://taxfoundation.org/states-moving-away-taxes-tangible-personal-property/
From The Motley Fool - The States With the Highest Car Tax
4. Mississippi - The Magnolia State is decidedly red when it comes to its politics, and the state government has a fairly gentle hand on real estate property taxes -- Mississippi ranks 15th lowest on that front. But car taxes are a different story, with residents paying a hefty $743 a year on average.
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/29/the-states-with-the-highest-car-tax.aspx
No one ever challenges the ad valorem issues, because no one knows where to begin? The most populated county's carry the slack for people that live in the least populated county's.
The state needs to take away tax assessment on vehicles from the county level and move it to the state level.
How the hell does it make any sense that a person in Madison County pays $500 for a new car tag. Then a person in Chickasaw County will pay $300 for the same car!?
Georgia is a Republican-led state and they just did away with ad valorem taxes on vehicles. You just pay the sales tax one-time at the point of sale, you can pay it out of pocket up front or have it incorporated with your financing.
I am glad that Hood is pledging to put a stop to HIS back room dealings. This must be very upsetting to his plaintiff lawyer friends who have
gotten rich while Hood was AG.
@10:04 The reason our ad valorem taxes are so high is mostly because of the massive tax cuts that we have given over the years on the state level. I am all for trying to encourage business to come to the state, but tax structure is not the main attraction. I feel we are losing some major business here in the state because of crumbling infrastructure, which our special session to address was a joke of a solution, and lack of an educated workforce, which we are trying to better on at the community college level. We need to start with our public education system though to truly get an educated workforce. Consolidate districts where applicable and cut the salaries of these ridiculously high paid superintendents and other admins and give it to the teachers, and quit blowing a few hundred million per year on exit and other state testing; 110 million real dollars and no telling what in lost teaching time and resources.
The legislature does not really care how high the local taxes are. They know the money for infrastructure and education have to come from somewhere, so they place the onus on the local governments and the hard working, property owning citizens in the counties to carry the load so they can shout to the rafters about how they have not raised taxes in years, even giving cuts. Taxes are taxes no matter where they come from and mine are higher than ever. It is simply a shift and most people are too ignorant to know that.
There is absolutely no way Hood can keep all the baggage of being affiliated with the Democratic socialist party hidden. NO WAY .
@ 10:31am
I get what you are saying. But having reliable transportation is key with getting to work.
Vehicles in Mississippi are being taxed like luxury items?
I get the reasoning behind paying taxes, but I don't agree with the amount we are paying on vehicles.
I would pass on eliminating the 7% sales tax on household goods. But the trade off should at least be an adjustment on ad valorem taxes on vehicles.
Hood better prepare himself on answers about where he will leave, office lease and state flag, because it has been disastrous for him the last 24 hours
The reason our ad valorem taxes are so high is mostly because of the massive tax cuts that we have given over the years on the state level.
That is complete bullshit. Your ignorance never surprises.
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