Nice, propitiatory (there’s that word again) State of the State address by Gov. Tate Reeves last week. He spoke of Mississippians’ grit, pride and faith. He talked of his personal goal to cultivate more empathy. “We must love our neighbors as ourselves,” he said. “Above all we have to understand that every Mississippian – every American – is on the same team.”
He continued saying, “For me, that means looking out for those who need extra help. It means being honest with people – admitting what I don’t know and working to be better. It means diligently working to make Mississippi an even more welcoming, prosperous state.”
“I’m incredibly lucky that I’m not in it alone. None of us are. We’re surrounded by a legion of fellow Mississippians. People who care about you. People who want you to succeed, because they know we will all rise together. If we can just harness that, we can accomplish anything.”
Now, will his policy priorities match his rhetoric?
His State of the State was brief and short on policy. He did, appropriately, put conquering the COVID-19 pandemic as his top policy priority. He did support increased teacher pay (if the Legislature can pass it). Without specifics he called for the Legislature to “sharpen” the tool of workforce development to train up a competitive workforce.
And he called for “bold” action to “transform our economy” by (trumpets sound) eliminating the personal income tax.
Hmmm. Apparently Gov. Reeves believes this tax is now the major obstacle keeping good jobs from pouring into Mississippi.
When industry site selectors look at Mississippi their priorities include things like proximity to markets; transportation and utility infrastructure and costs; workforce availability, training, and costs; business climate, primarily regulation and corporate taxes; and quality of life including schools, housing, and cost of living.
When Blueprint Mississippi gathered business leaders to look at what the state needed to be competitive in 2004 and again in 2011, the top priorities included education, workforce development, access to capital, infrastructure development, healthcare, and leadership.
Others cite as current economic development priorities expanding rural access to high speed Internet and greatly improving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education outcomes in schools.
Unlike five years ago when then Lt. Gov. Reeves successfully argued that cutting business and corporate taxes would improve the state’s economic competitiveness, his contention that cutting personal income taxes will exhort growth doesn’t seem to stack up. There are numerous other economic development essentials that could do more.
Former President Donald Trump proposed spending over $1 trillion to improve infrastructure saying that would also employ millions of American workers. A state infrastructure program featuring rural Internet expansion, utility upgrades, transportation improvement, and new and improved school buildings with more STEM equipment could do the same for Mississippi.
In a related matter, the Governor finally appointed John Rounsaville as permanent director of the Mississippi Development Authority. Good move. Rounsaville has a firm grasp of Mississippi’s development needs.
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good” – Romans 12:9.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
11 comments:
Crawford: From the Get-Go..NO. Everybody is not on the same team and we do no need to, have to or benefit from 'loving our neighbor. Starting your article with that bullshit is probably why you have no other comments.
"Good move. Rounsaville has a firm grasp of Mississippi’s development needs."
So have the last thirteen in that job. Nothing more than bullshit buzz words.
The liberals have mastered the art of putting lipstick on a pig. Every now and then a conservative politician will demonstrate the conservative's own version of political cosmetics. Thank you Tater.
Doesn't Tater have a background in banking or finance? Has he explained where the state will get the money they would lose without personal income tax? I haven't seen it. If he really wants to eliminate the tax he's got to say where replacement money would come from. A ten year old child would understand that.
8:03 - Have you posed the same question to Gunn and Hoseman?
You say the Guv was "short on policy" in his address? One of the main problems with this state and nation is that too many have forced too much policy down out throats for decades. And just because he did not mention some of the issues you pointed out does not mean they are being ignored. And as for the deleting the state income tax, I wish I could find someone that explain how these states that don't have an income tax make up the difference in other areas.
Aint nothing going to make people move to Missippi unless their job forces them.
7:05 - How other states manage is irrelevant. Delving into that is as meaningless as figuring out the average shoe size of American males or the average cost of housing among the fifty states. The resulting figures, whatever they may be, are of zero utility.
We are not Texas. We are not Florida. And we are not Tennessee. We are Mississippi. Why don't we just form a committee and import a bunch of consultants from other states and fly in politicians and visionaries from other states and pay for studies...and wind up with zero working knowledge, no strategy and zero roadmap? We could lay a hundred miles of concrete highway with the money we've pissed away on studies in the past fifteen years.
Meanwhile, Reeves' took box of 'tax elimination and teacher pay raises' really contains nothing more than hollow election tools.
3:07- "Word".
That's an excellent question, 7:05 and here's part of the answer. The 3 states around here that don't have a state income tax are Texas, Tennessee and Florida. So, how do the make up the revenue? In Florida's case the answer is easy and obvious - tax the tourists. Florida's sales taxes, local taxes and hotel restaurant taxes are higher and when you have millions of tourists that can make a difference. Mississippi won't even spend money on our state parks, so tourism won't cut it. In Texas, there's no state income tax but local property and school taxes are high. There's also the "oil bidness" there - Texans will tell you they've diversified their economy and that is true, but it's still nice to have a huge oil and gas industry. Tennessee doesn't have an income tax on WAGES, but they do tax investment and interest income - at least until this year, when it is supposed to be phased out. So, Tennessee does "tax the rich" because about 200,000 people pay the interest/investment tax (also known as the "Hall Tax"). Tennessee is already growing like crazy, especially in the Nashville area, so we'll see how that phase out plays. So, bottom line is nothing is free - but in all 3 cases these are states people WANT to move to and there is also a tax benefit. First, we've got to get people to want to move to Mississippi and just cutting out an income tax (and starving other government services to "pay" for that) won't do it alone in my opinion.
7:59 Thank you for you thoughtful answer.
7:32 And thank you for what was nothing more than a smart ass response.
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