Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Sid Salter: Outside Mississippi, Legislators React as Soaring Property Values Hike Property Taxes

In Mississippi, when state government aims to implement tax reform the sights are usually set on individual or corporate income taxes, sales and use taxes, insurance premium taxes or so-called “sin” taxes on gaming, tobacco, liquor and beer.  

After all, those categories of state taxes generated over 99 percent of all state General Fund receipts in Fiscal Year 2022 representing some $7.189 billion in total receipts. But emphatically, Mississippi relies on sales, use and income taxes as the prime movers in generating tax revenue.  

Property taxes in Mississippi are primarily the province of county and municipal governments, so legislative debate of property tax issues is neither frequent nor particularly passionate unless fueled by local government advocates.  

Based on national 50-state comparisons, Mississippi property taxes are considered in the lower third of the states and as a business climate indicator is ranked 38th by the Tax Foundation. One of the reasons that property taxes are low here is that state leaders during the administration of the late Gov. Mike Conner determined that one way of holding property taxes low for property owners was to shift to Conner’s first-in-the-nation retail sales tax in 1934.  

 

In the teeth of the Great Depression, Conner inherited a bankrupt state treasury and a $13.5 million state budget deficit. He left office two years later with a $3 million budget surplus – despite being targeted by armed protestors outside his Capitol office.  

The success of the sales tax in broadening the state’s tax base during the Depression gave it life well after the nation’s economy recovered and the state’s property taxes were the beneficiary. The shift of the tax burden from primarily property owners to all citizens was intentional.  

The debate over Mississippi’s sales tax is as fresh as the last gubernatorial campaign, but it is firmly part of Mississippi’s overall tax structure.  

Beyond the politics of it, Mississippi’s property tax policy – including homestead exemption, economic development exemptions, industrial exemptions and other rules – creates an environment in which property tax rates remain low.  

But the bottom line is that property taxes have historically remained low due to low property valuations in Mississippi.  

Tax-rates.org reports: “The median property tax in Mississippi is $508.00 per year for a home worth the median value of $98,000.00. Counties in Mississippi collect an average of 0.52% of a property’s assessed fair market value as property tax per year. Mississippi has one of the lowest median property tax rates in the U.S., with only three states collecting a lower median property tax than Mississippi.”  

That status is evolving in Mississippi as it has in other parts of the country. Property values are increasing in Mississippi and in some venues across the state, those increases are dramatic. Inflationary influences are also at play.  

Mississippi’s status as a relatively low property tax state isn’t likely to change the growing trend nationally of state legislatures entertaining legislation designed to provide property tax relief to taxpayers who’ve seen their property tax levies soar along with the increase in their home’s value.  

In Mississippi, as in most states, increased home values will result in higher property taxes even if no increase in the property tax rate is levied. Higher home values equal higher taxes. Again, local governments take the lead in property taxes and are dependent on the revenue.  

That’s when political conflict is almost certain on this issue. Legislators will be asked for tax relief while local governments will resist any interruption of their tax revenue stream.  

Legislators in other states have put forth property tax rebate legislation while some have introduced bills to adjust property assessments. Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the pro-business Tax Foundation, said he expects many other states to debate the issue this year.  

“In virtually every state where the legislature meets this year, property tax relief bills will be filed,” Walczak said. “This is a front-of-mind issue for many legislators across the country.”  

Given Mississippi’s status as having Republican super majorities in both houses of the Legislature and GOP strength in many of the state’s counties with the highest property values, can a showdown on property tax relief be too far in our future? 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...



I wish my average MS home had a $508 tax. Try that on for size in Hinds County.

Anonymous said...

Next, do a deep dive on taxes. And how they start revolutions.

Don Drane said...

Gosh, Sid..It would seem that with Mississippi having one of the 'lowest median property tax rates in the U.S.' and untaxed retirement income, along with Hoseman giving us a new state flag and the rebels up at TSUN hiding the memorial to the casualties of Lincoln's War....Mississippi would be the prime target for industrial relocation and a flood of inbound retirees and job seekers.

What went wrong?

Anonymous said...

my property taxes on my 2100 square foot lower middle class split plan is 2700 dollars per year

this figure of 508 annually is garbage

Anonymous said...

Sometime people will say how lucky I am to have moved to a state without income tax. I tell them to take a look at my $12k property tax bill and see how lucky they think I am. I might as well live in California.

Anonymous said...

After being born and bred here but serving in many other states, I was just stunned one evening at a Boy Scout meeting here where a Dad was whining about property taxes. It just stunned me as I know generations of cops and firemen and teachers in other states who have to leave their home states in retirement due to property taxes in excess of 20 Grand a year for old and very modest homes in fairly nice areas. So, you wind up with Dem "utopia": gated compounds (the castles of today) for the rich, surrounded by poverty, as this hollows out the middle class.

Here it's just the greedy Rich, already benefiting from low costs and low taxes, seeking to get out of practically ANY tax. A Grover Norquist (a fan of porn and brothel owners, and a mentor to our Greedsters) schtick. Their degenerate hero, an Epstein on taxes.

But we'll continue with the grocery tax, which impacts the poor and the elderly for no good reason.

Never fails. RINOs who love to spend Tax Money but want to be exempt from taxes and have a feudal system.

NOT conservative. Just Greedy LiberaLtarians.

But point well taken 8:26, the Democratic People's Republic of Hinds taxes the "rich white folk" higher than in other areas. So, Uhaul awaits.

But just looking forward to the tax dodgers in Rankin trying to figure out how WE (not them) will pay for Bryan's Girlfriend and Goon Squad.

Anonymous said...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the millage rate is how real estate taxes are calculated. Millage rates change annually. So, if the county's re-appraisal of your property's value increased significantly, then the millage rate should be reduced effectively reducing the property owner's tax burden. The millage rate is a simple calculation between the county's total assessed property value by the annual tax revenue required to run the local government.

Anonymous said...

January 10, 2024 at 9:40 AM

Incorrect. You either don't pay property taxes in Mississippi or you're trolling here from out of state.

Anonymous said...

29:40

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way-- because--

that would be fair.

Anonymous said...

15% increase on my residence this year. But my trash gets picked up on the regular and I can drink the tap water, so I got that going for me.

Anonymous said...

Government services cost money. The government obtains that money by way of taxes. So whether the tax is income, property, sales, hotel, gas, restaurant, casino, etc., government has to get the money from somewhere. Generally, states with no income tax make up for it by higher taxes somewhere else.
One could argue that government provides too many services and should cut any number of programs and by doing so reduce taxes. If Tater wants to cut the income tax, first tell us what programs he wants eliminated in order to offset the cuts.(PERS haters find something else, no elected representatives are going to offer any change to PERS , its political suicide)

Anonymous said...

Why, unless he's demented, would 9:40 post that? He comes off as so well reasoned, even articulate than he reveals he ain't got shit for sense.

What's up with that psychologically? What would encourage him to knowingly post that rubbish?

Anonymous said...

January 10, 2024 at 10:25 AM

Please educate yourself and refer to the Mississippi Department of Revenue's website, which states: "The various taxing entities where the property is located levy the tax. This includes the county, municipality, and school districts. Each taxing entity determines the amount of money needed and the local officials calculate the tax rate necessary to raise that revenue. (True value x Assessment Ratio = Assessed Value x Millage Rate = Taxes) The true value of the property is multiplied by the appropriate assessment ratio to determine the assessed value. The assessed value is multiplied by the local property tax rate, or millage rate, to determine the property taxes owed. Therefore, I am correct in stating the millage rate is determined by dividing the amount of taxes required to run the local government by the total amount of assessed value for the county.

Anonymous said...


For those of us that actually Pay Attention- Local Government its always (as required by Ms Law) reappraising Property. Don't actually ever remember Appraised Value ever going down where I live (not necessarily aa bad thing) but the AdVal Tax continues to creep up, thus Taxes are consistently missing-thuss generating more Tax Revenue which every Elected Official can always find something to spend it on. I'd love to see Government go back to basic needs. Roads, Law Enforcement, Education, ass well as the General Health of Residents. You could catch your own dog, place your own garbage in a named disposal facility, provide for your own spoiled child who doesn't need medication but instead needs a Mother & Daddy's discipline. School Teachers need the full support of Parents, a Safe Facility to Teach in and an awful LOT of Community Support. Time to cut the Stupid Checks, the Lazy Checks out & move forward-


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