Mississippi made history as the first state in the U.S.—aside from oil-rich Alaska—to pass legislation aimed at phasing out its income tax.
This monumental achievement, spearheaded by Governor Tate Reeves and House Speaker Jason White, marks a significant victory for the state. The newly passed bill outlines a plan to eliminate the income tax over the next decade, starting with incremental cuts and followed by a series of budget-driven "triggers."
Beginning next year, Mississippi’s income tax rate will drop in 0.25 percent increments, sliding from 4 percent to 3 percent by 2030. After that, further reductions will hinge on the state’s budget surplus. Given Mississippi’s recent track record of substantial surpluses, the income tax could vanish entirely by the mid-2030s.
So, how did Mississippi become such a trailblazer? It very nearly did not happen. The push to eliminate the income tax has been a cornerstone of Governor Reeves’ agenda, with serious legislative efforts kicking off in 2022 under then-House Speaker Philip Gunn.Gunn’s genius was to simplifying the state’s variable tax rates into a flat 4 percent on income above $10,000. While this didn’t eliminate the tax outright, it leveled the playing field for Mississippi households, setting the stage for broader support of full elimination. Fast forward to this year, when Speaker Jason White and Representative Trey Lamar introduced a plan to phase out the income tax by 2037. Their initial proposal included a partial tax swap, offset by modest increases in gas and sales taxes.
What happened next was both fascinating – and, if you support income tax elimination, rather fortuitous. The Mississippi Senate has been a constant drag on conservative reform. They have either opposed, or come to grudgingly accept, almost every conservative policy proposal over the past few years, from school choice to red tape reduction. So, too, with income tax elimination. The Senate, reluctant to fully embrace income tax elimination, opted for a cautious approach. They amended the bill with a "trigger" mechanism, tying future tax cuts to significant revenue growth outpacing spending increases. Some in the Senate perhaps saw this as a clever stall tactic—until a fortunate blunder turned the tables. The Senate miscalculated the formula, placing a decimal point in the wrong place. Math matters. Something the Senate design as a brake on tax cuts turned out to be an accelerator. Unless the state government runs a deficit, future surpluses will likely drive steady cuts, and Mississippi – despite the Senate leaderships best efforts – will be as competitive in tax terms as Tennessee and Texas. Set aside the soap opera, this is great news for our state. Already there is evidence that in 2024, by some measures, Mississippi performed well economically, and may have been one of the fastest growing states in America that year. This tax reform will only add to this Mississippi momentum. Perhaps what the Senators math missteps shows is that Mississippi now needs to turn its attention to education reforms? If the Senators stopped blocking school choice the way they tried to block income tax elimination, maybe math standards might be better both inside and outside the legislature.
Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. This post is a paid advertisement by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
36 comments:
The ignorance of this article is appalling. Nine states have no income tax, including Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming, Tennessee and others. Mississippi is always lagging behind, isn't it?
Thanks for the paid advertisement Doug. The PERS rider is the significant line you should be discussing. Dilbert caved and just kissed his governor hopes goodbye by a decimal point. STEM matters.
This series of events could never happen in most states.
This the worst (and most doomed to fail) state legislation of my lifetime.
There's nothing "monumental" about it. Mississippi has always led the nation in futile gestures. We will stay the course.
Our sales and income taxes are the greatest source of state revenue. Expect property taxes to rise in more than a few counties or hope for federal funds for infrastructure improvements.
This is just part of the effort for the state to take over all of Hinds county's property. As it is, Hinds generates the most sales tax revenues and the state takes all but 2% of it already and the county takes more than they need to manage the little slice they manage.
We can't compare to other states because their constitutions and laws don't give the county supervisors more power than the major city in a county. Money goes where the most citizens and most travelled bridges/ roads and businesses are. I never even heard of county supervisors until I moved here and was forced to buy culverts from the county of Madison rather than the subdivision developer being required to provide them.
Label this bill " The rich get richer and have nicer things". What is it about being a poor state none of you understand?
Since when is a transfer of taxes considered a tax cut?
When dumb people think they are the smartest people in the room you get this type of legislation. The state will lament this decision for decades.
New Hampshire has no income tax
Good income earners will benefit from this (my family included).
The poor, and those on fixed incomes, will end up carrying a heavier tax burden.
How is this anything other than a shifting of the tax burden from the rich to the poor?
Shell game.
@12:46 - No one is claiming otherwise. That’s kind of the whole purpose of the Republican Party, to protect the wealthy and widen the gap between the haves and have nots.
The tax replacement will come from property taxes, then Trump might outlaw those for over 65, and Mississippi will be in the stone age.
This is so full of “ what ifs” yall wait for that 0 income tax , while ya waiting Southern Miss will win a National Championship ! You pick the sport ! It ain’t Volleyball !
Delbert has approached this dangerous experiment with caution, as he or any prudent person should, so Doug excoriates him for not being conservative enough. Doug doesn’t realize it’s not a race to see who can be the most conservative, but who can govern most effectively.
MID 2030's. Great, I will file this under "things that will NEVER HAPPEN". In addition, tax on fuel is set to increase, so this will just be another tax hike in disguise. Same idiot leaders that claimed that companies are LINED UP to come do business once we change the state flag. Well...WE'RE WAITING!
The Democrats in this state a idiotic with their give-away social spending and free give aways, but the Republics are getting to be just as stupid with their hillbilly economics.
And oh, even with the tax increases on fuel, the roads will continue to be a total disaster that look like something out of Kenya.
Of course, we could just tax the rich, but they've got y'all convinced that y'all are on the same team (you're not).
4:50 First, the Democrats do not control any state spending or "give-aways" in this state whose expenditures are dominated and controlled by Republicans and their "hillbilly economics" .
Second, no so-called leaders ever said companies would line up if the flag were changed. They said the flag would no longer be a handicap to attracting companies that might do business here. Get straight.
It is a tax increase for most people - elderly on fixed incomes, poor and disabled, farmers and landowners, small businesses, anyone who owns or rides in any auto that uses fuel, and so on.
Josh Harkins has been added to the special committee on STEM as an expert representative for math.
The dysfunctional legislature cannot even put together a state budget. Maybe they need a MATH
I'm elderly, on a fixed income and a landowner. This tax cut will save me money.
In Louiana citizens get to vote on such things, Jeff Landry and the Republicans just learned that folks ain’t buying the bait and switch. Their Amendment to change the tax code to favor corporations and the rich was destroyed by the voters!
@2:26 pm, Trump cannot abolish a state imposed tax. Other taxes will replace the revenue formerly generated by the state income tax.
Mississippians need to wake up. Income tax rate reduced to 3 % and then the reductions based on state budget surplus. We just allowed MS government to permanently increase another tax (gas). Any time we allow government to increase taxes, they never voluntarily reduce it later. DUH! This state has no services (food desert, substandard medical care, crime, poverty and citizens becoming uneducatable) and now we want to make our citizens pay higher taxes. BTW see what grocery prices are in neighboring states. Kroger is screwing Mississippians but that is because it is the only grocery in town.
Delbert is on his way out. The House didn't show up this weekend, and basically said, "We're not doing anymore late night hurried budgets without appropriate review, and it will be that way going forward." Delbert's not in charge anymore.
The tax on fuel should have been increased years ago, because we need good roads and bridges. The fuel tax puts the cost directly on the people driving on the roads. The more you use the roads the more you pay via the fuel tax. Ag equipment gets an exemption I believe since rarely is it driven on roads. There is little leadership and vision in the legislature, or this would have been addressed years ago. The 9 cent increase should occur immediately, not over three years. You could not cobble together one spine from everyone in the legislature.
This fuel tax increase should also require an increase in the annual fee on electric vehicles that is assessed for road maintenance.
One question about the fuel tax? For many years it was enough to build the roads. Now it isn't enough to repair the roads. People say everything is higher now. They never say anything about how many more cars are buying gas now. Look at how much gas was sold back when people started paying a gas tax. Compare that to how much gas is sold today. Maybe if the people who were hired to repair the road really did the work instead of riding around or leaning on shovels.
11:08, the fuel tax has not been increased since 1987, so this proposed small increase will not be anywhere close to keeping pace with inflation; it would take an immediate 32 cent per gallon increase to do that. Wear and tear on a roadway is caused by traffic, specifically heavy traffic (log trucks, gravel trucks, 18-wheelers), so to address your argument about more vehicles on the road, those vehicles are causing more wear and tear. Your fuel tax dollars are spent pretty efficiently in Mississippi, but there’s not enough to keep up with the increased volume of traffic on the road today, especially when the fuel tax per gallon is about a third of what it should be.
Ditto, 9:46 & 10:07!
If you follow the logic of those above opposed to the income tax elimination -- that the loss of tax from income will stimulate tax increases elsewhere, i.e. property taxes, etc, -- we also, therefore, should not reduce the sales tax on groceries since those taxes are key taxes relied upon by municipalities and the loss of those taxes will lead to tax increases elsewhere, especially property taxes.
How much more gas is being sold today compared to 1987?
Not when you are paying more in consumer taxes and the price increases of everyday goods.
I laugh at the posts about the GOP being the party of the rich. Yep, the GOP has Musk, the richest guy in America. Have you looked at numbers 2 - 10 for wealth in the US? All Democrats.
Democrats more than doubled the GOP in fundraising last year. The reason that labor, the poor and lower middle classes are leaving the Democrat party is because it is the party of the wealthy. As one former Democrat told me, "I became a Republican when I realized that I simply don't have enough money to be a Democrat."
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