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A report by a group of Alcorn State University alumni alleges widespread issues contributed to falling enrollment and dozens of employee resignations in the last year at the nation’s oldest historically Black land grant university.

Alcornites for Change is now calling on the president, Felecia Nave, and her administration to address their concerns at next month’s mid-winter conference, an annual gathering of national alumni chapters, in Atlanta, Ga. 

The report is based on records requests and a series of workshops held by Alcornites for Change to investigate the “current student conditions” and was presented to members during a Zoom meeting last week. 

“It’s time to separate the drama from reality,” April Gilmore, a 2004 graduate, said during the meeting. “I went from not caring to angry in a matter of months. We need to invest in ourselves, we need to be heard. We want the leadership to respond to us.” 

The 64-page report covered nine areas of concern, including that fall freshman enrollment has dropped by half over the last five years, from 1,286 students in fall 2017 to 641 students in fall 2021. It also included a survey of 252 alumni which found almost 80% were dissatisfied with the current administration’s “willingness to listen to or address” their concerns. 

In an email to Mississippi Today, Maxine Greenleaf, Alcorn’s spokesperson, did not address the report specifically but wrote “Alcorn State University has succeeded against great odds for 150 years, and it’s because we work together. We will continue to work together with stakeholders to advance the mission of Alcorn.” 

Alcornites for Change began meeting in October 2021 after news broke that Alcorn State’s football team had to cancel training due to a lack of athletic trainers. In the report, the group describes itself as “born out of a genuine concern for current student conditions at Alcorn, as well as other data points that appear to threaten the sustainability of Alcorn State University.” 

The group has said in meetings that its goal is not to see Nave fired — which some students called for in a protest on the campus green last fall — but to “be a conduit of improvement” for Alcorn State. 

READ MORE: Why students at Alcorn State called for their president to resign

During the meeting last Tuesday, some alumni became emotional discussing pictures that Alcornites for Change had received of athletic facilities on campus. The pictures, which the report says were taken in January 2022, show exam tables with worn padding, broken cabinets in the locker rooms, and a swimming pool which the report says “has not been completely drained and has standing water which is now black from mold.” 

At least two SWAC basketball coaches, according to the report, “wouldn’t allow their teams to shower at Alcorn due to deplorable locker room facilities.” 

“Tonight I’m just mad, I’m angry,” said Janiero Smith, a 2001 graduate. “I’m angry at Alcorn because I know that we can do better. It’s unacceptable. I’m angry because tomorrow I know there are going to be people more concerned about their internet profile than … about our student athletes. I’m also angry at myself. I buy tickets, I buy parking passes, I travel to games. And you think it’s enough. Until you really understand what the cost of your entertainment is.”

The ailing infrastructure is not unique to the athletic department, the report said. Alcornites for Change also received photos of mold and mildew in dormitories and crumbling ceiling tiles in the J.D. Boyd Library, as well as a video of water dripping from a light in the math and science building. The photos and video were taken in the last year, according to the report.

Other findings in the report include: 

• Sixty-nine administrators, faculty and staff resigned or retired from Alcorn between May 2021 and October 2021. “As a result, remaining staff has had to occupy several full-time roles in limited capacity,” the report said. 
• Budgets for 14 academic departments decreased from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022 while the five major deans’ offices saw budget increases. Funding for Alcorn’s bachelor of science in nursing program was cut in half during the same time period. 
• Alcorn State contracted with a consulting firm to write a strategic plan for the university. Administration has yet to release the strategic plan, which was scheduled to be published by April 2021. 
• Alcorn State was the only public HBCU in Mississippi to lose students from fall 2020 to fall 2021, according to the report. In fall 2021, High School Day, when thousands of students typically visit Alcorn’s campus, saw just 400 students. 

For many of the “perceived challenges” identified in the report, Alcornites for Change listed potential solutions the school could implement, such as waiving ACT scores to increase enrollment, partnering with local community colleges to offer key courses, and creating a listserv of alumni who can offer jobs and internships to graduating students. 

“We have offered 98 solutions, and we’d like to offer more,” said Jonas Crenshaw, one of the main organizers of Alcornites for Change. “We just want to be heard. We want to roll up our sleeves, we want to do this work that will lead Alcorn into the next 150 years.”

The post Alcorn alumni ask university to respond to allegations of widespread issues on campus appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Tax Cut or Tax Cut appeared first on Mississippi Today.

While the state legislative leadership is consumed with cutting or eliminating the income tax, the state’s business community considers lack of skilled workers, Mississippi’s image and problems from the pandemic as far more pressing issues.

“… The Mississippi tax environment was not high profile nor even discussed significantly as a priority,” said a report released by the Mississippi Economic Council at the state Capitol on Wednesday, based on dozens of meetings and hundreds of surveys of business leaders across the state last year. “… A businessman raised the topic (at one meeting) and dismissed it as a bad idea (a distraction issue, but not really a hindrance to most businesses).”

MEC released the report, “Securing Mississippi’s Future,” on Wednesday after it held 51 town-hall style forums with business and community leaders across the state and from numerous sectors from July through September of last year. The income tax issue didn’t even come up at any meeting until the end of August, the report said.

“There was the thought (eliminating the income tax) could drive other costs up and it could hurt the state budget and households,” the report said.

But state lawmakers at the Capitol have been focused on cutting or eliminating the state’s income tax, and the House and Senate’s Republican leaders have been battling over competing plans. The House wants a massive tax overhaul that would include elimination of the state income tax over about a decade, and an increase in sales taxes. The Senate has a more modest plan of small income tax cuts over four years.

READ MORE: Inside the income tax cut battle between House and Senate leaders

This isn’t the first time business leaders have thrown cold water on the legislative income tax cut push. In summer hearings, MEC’s president told lawmakers it was not a top business priority, but some fear it could have unintended consequences. Other representatives of industry sectors voiced concern or opposition at the time.

The top issues “far and away” among state business leaders, the new MEC report said, were lack of workers, Mississippi’s image — and need for marketing the state better and stopping “brain drain” — and problems caused by the pandemic. The report noted that the meetings and surveys were during a spike in COVID-19 cases, likely contributing to that issue’s high ranking.

“In every community — without exception — the number-one issue was identified as ‘lack of qualified workers,’” the MEC report said. “… The number-one issue facing growth in Mississippi can be summed up easily: There are not enough qualified workers for current jobs, and even those willing to enter the workforce are not prepared for the task at hand.”

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn attended a Capitol press conference Wednesday where MEC announced its report and subsequent “Goals for Charting a Bold Course for Mississippi.”

Gunn, who has said eliminating the state income tax is the greatest priority of his political career, did not mention that effort, but said lawmakers have been focused on improving workforce development. He said that last summer, he met with a national “site selector” who helps businesses choose where to locate, and asked him what he looks for in selection.

“He said number one is workforce — a qualified, educated, reliable and trained workforce,” Gunn said.

Hosemann, who has been more cautious about tax cuts and reluctant to eliminate the income tax as Gunn proposes, said, “The best workforce development we have is an educated child.”

Leaders across the state said there is a lack of skills among Mississippi’s graduates and better collaboration is needed between businesses, high schools and post-secondary schools. Those surveyed by MEC strongly supported financial incentives for keeping Mississippi high school and college graduates in state.

Broadband expansion and improvement of road and bridge infrastructure were topics that came up frequently with business leaders, the report said.

The MEC report also said that, except for those working for hospitals, medical centers and nursing homes, Medicaid expansion “received surprisingly little attention” as a topic among business leaders. Although the report said, “There was unanimous agreement that healthcare is 100% a workforce issue.”

READ MORE: State’s chamber of commerce mulling Mississippi Medicaid expansion

Those pushing Medicaid expansion in Mississippi had hoped MEC and its business leaders would join in the push for expansion. Last year, MEC President Scott Waller said he expected MEC to take a position on Medicaid expansion and make policy recommendations before the 2022 legislative session that began in January.

On Wednesday, Waller said access to health care is still an issue with the business community, but right now MEC’s focus would be “working on ways to better access care with the system we have now.”

The post State chamber: Businesses are concerned with workforce, not state income tax appeared first on Mississippi Today.

An organization that provides critical services to Mississippi children who have been physically and sexually abused had its federal funding slashed by half. Now, the Children’s Advocacy Centers in Mississippi are depending on state lawmakers to plug the hole.

The centers closed two satellite offices late last year and laid off around 40 staff members. As a result, the number of people providing needed services to more than 10,000 abused children each year has shrunk, and families and those involved in cases may have to travel farther for forensic interviews, counseling and other services. 

The majority of cases they see involve sexual abuse, but severe physical abuse that results in broken bones, serious burns and other major injuries have only increased during the pandemic.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn in September asked Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session last fall to appropriate COVID-19 relief funding to the centers, along with domestic violence shelters and programs. Reeves did not call a special session to address the problem. But now advocates and prosecutors remain hopeful lawmakers will appropriate the needed money before the 2022 legislative session ends in early April.

If not, abused children could face longer wait times for services or not be able to access them at all. These are children like one 7-year-old boy who recently came to the Hattiesburg center for his forensic interview.

He had been sexually and physically abused for years. Finally, after a routine call to his home, a law enforcement officer noticed the child sitting in a corner with bruises and marks all over his body, said Didi Ellis, the executive director of Kids Hub Child Advocacy Center. He was taken into Child Protective Services custody and referred to the center.

When he was nearing the end of his forensic interview at the center, he was weary and tired.

“He told the interviewer she could ask him one more question, and that was all he had the capacity for … She chose to ask him, ‘If this ever happened again, who could you tell?’” recalled Ellis. “Without hesitation he said, ‘You, you guys. You’re my superheroes.’”

“He’s why — he’s why these dollars are so important. We want to be able to provide that same thing to every kid who needs us and in a timely manner.”

Effects of the budget cuts

Karla Tye, the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi, said the loss of funding has been “devastating for children.”

The cuts have also affected other victims’ services around the state: domestic violence and human trafficking programs and shelters, victim advocates in district attorneys’ offices, and a clinic that conducts forensic medical exams of children who’ve been abused, among others.

The Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl provides services and shelter to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. It lost $600,000 in funding, or about 30% of its total annual budget. Employees were laid off, and legal, mental health and medical services for victims had to be cut, according to the executive director.

The federal funding cuts came at the same time the number of referrals to the Children’s Advocacy Centers has drastically increased, according to Tye. State funding for the 12 centers — about $500,000 annually — has remained stagnant for the last 10 years, Tye said.

At Children’s Advocacy Centers around the state, specially trained forensic interviewers conduct interviews of kids who are suspected of being abused or have witnessed a violent crime. The interviews are done as soon as possible after an allegation is made.

The staffers are specially trained in interviewing children, child development and trauma, and their expertise is necessary in successfully putting an abuser in jail. 

During the interview, law enforcement and prosecutors look on through a one-way window, and the process is set up to ensure the child doesn’t have to tell his or her story more than is absolutely necessary. 

Before the centers started popping up in Mississippi in the 1990s, the criminal justice system was often “retraumatizing the children and ruining cases,” said Tye.

“The system was so disjointed … Kids were saying, ‘I don’t want to talk about this anymore,’ or felt like they were saying the wrong thing,” said Tye. “Cases were falling through the cracks and weren’t able to get prosecuted because agencies weren’t working together and sharing information.”

Law enforcement and prosecutors say their local center’s services, which include monthly meetings with every police officer, prosecutor, case worker, medical provider, advocate and anyone else involved in the case, help them do their job. 

“It makes for stronger cases … Our training only goes so far,” said Johnny Hall, an investigator with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department who has been with the department for 26 years. 

The meetings also ensure the various agencies are in sync — and, from Hall’s perspective, hold them accountable.

For a few months, Hall was able to use a satellite office near the sheriff’s department in Brookhaven. But after the cuts came down, it was closed. So he, fellow law enforcement and families now travel to the nearest center in McComb.

Sen. Jenifer Branning, a Republican who represents Leake, Neshoba and Winston counties, has filed one of the bills that would provide funding for the centers.

“Absolutely, we’ve got to do everything we can to support abused and neglected children,” she told Mississippi Today.  

How the centers are funded

Children’s Advocacy Centers are mostly funded by the federal Victims of Crime Act Fund, which was created in 1984 to provide federal support to state and local programs that help crime victims. The money is not from taxpayers but instead generated by fines paid by federal criminals in the court system.

In 2019, however, the fund began to shrink as a result of legal changes in the federal system. Congress passed a law aiming to shore up the fund last year, but there will be a several-year gap where money remains scarce before the fund is replenished. 

This has affected an array of programs that assist victims of crime — including the Children’s Safe Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which provides medical care to children who are suspected of being abused or neglected. 

Dr. Scott Benton, the state’s only child abuse pediatrician, says his operation has lost administrative positions and can’t hire a third physician as previously planned. 

“I can tell you we’re working our behinds off, and not seeing so much an increase in absolute numbers (of child abuse victims) but instead increases in the severity (of the injuries)” during the pandemic, Benton said. 

Tye echoed Benton: While the centers’ funding has been slashed in half, the cases being referred to the 12 centers since the end of 2019 have increased by 72%.

“The isolation (caused by the pandemic) created opportunities and circumstances that increased the likelihood of child abuse to occur. And the abuse was a lot more complex and severe,” said Tye, echoing Benton’s experiences the past few years. “We have seen some pretty horrific physical injuries.” 

Children are coming to the centers with more mental health needs as a result of prolonged and intensified abuse. 

“We have had more and more kids presenting with suicidal ideations,” said Tye.

Several lawmakers have filed bills to make up for this and next year’s loss in federal funding, in addition to increasing the amount of state funding the centers receive. But until they’re finalized in the appropriations process, the fate of resources for abused children remains uncertain.

The services of the centers

While forensic interviews are perhaps what the centers are most known for, they also provide a gamut of other services for children and their families. These include counseling, accompaniment to court, assistance in preparing for testifying, and help securing protection orders — all at no cost to the victims and their families.

“We are figuratively holding the hand of that family during what happens (in their case),” said Tye.

Crosby Parker, the district attorney for Hancock, Harrison and Stone counties, said the South Mississippi Canopy Children’s Solutions Child Advocacy Center in Gulfport makes a real difference in the cases he prosecutes.

“For the forensic interview of a child to be admissible in the prosecution of an offender, these interviews have to be done by a trained interviewer who’s designated as an expert in the field of child forensic interviews,” said Parker. “Over my 14 years, I’ve tried a lot of child molestation cases, and I would not be able to do it without them.”

And Parker doesn’t just rely on the center for prosecuting cases. As a father, he cannot help but see the victims he works with as kids first and foremost — kids just like his own.

“We are so thankful to have them as partners to make sure we can get the child and their family counseling services,” he said. “It allows us to be prosecutors because we know that child is being looked after.”  

The post Child abuse victims lost funding for services. Mississippi lawmakers could help. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Super Bowl followed suit with an amazing string of down-to-the-wire NFL playoff games, giving pro football fans one final treat. Mississippians Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson, Jr. helped the Los Angeles Rams outlast the Cincinnati Bengals. Even the halftime show gets the Cleveland stamp of approval. The Clevelands also talk about the opening of the college baseball season, the high school basketball playoffs and more.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: A Super Bowl that really was appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Rankin County man who repeatedly bonded out of jail and reportedly attacked his ex-girlfriend pleaded guilty Monday to two felony charges in Scott County Circuit Court. 

Tony Boyd was sentenced to 23 years in prison with five years suspended after shooting his former girlfriend Kizzetta McClendon in Morton in March 2020. 

Under state law, Boyd will be eligible for parole after serving nine years, according to Steven Kilgore, district attorney for the Eighth Circuit Court District. 

Boyd, who had previously served time in prison for stabbing a woman in 2010, was charged and indicted by a Scott County grand jury in November 2020 on charges of felony-level domestic violence and felon in possession of a firearm stemming from the shooting. 

After bonding out of jail following the shooting, Boyd was charged again with felony-level domestic violence in September 2020 after allegedly attempting to run over McClendon in a parking lot. 

Boyd was arrested, bonded out again and charged with rape – also in connection with McClendon – in March 2021. He was never indicted on those two charges.

“The plea deal was made with the understanding that his two unindicted cases were encompassed in this plea,” said Kilgore. 

The “global plea” means the prosecution could tack on more time for the indicted charges using the unindicted charges as leverage. However, the rape and the second aggravated assault cases will be closed.

“This entire process was done with input and agreement from Ms. McClendon,” said Kilgore. 

McClendon said while it brings her solace to know there is no longer an immediate chance of Boyd being released and hurting her again, she ideally wanted the three cases treated separately. 

“He tried to kill somebody twice, but by the grace of God – not the law, not him – we survived to tell our story,” she said. 

The post Abuser featured in Mississippi Today story pleads guilty to shooting ex-girlfriend appeared first on Mississippi Today.

When most Mississippi readers last heard from my good friend Mike Knobler, he was the award-winning sports editor of The Clarion Ledger. He was a Harvard-educated intellectual flying his own airplane to and from Mississippi ballgames. Physically, he was, shall we say, portly. He was also, without question, one of the worst golfers in history of this planet.

That was nearly 20 years and more than 50 pounds ago. 

Now, Knobler is a former sports writer-turned-California tax attorney who flies his own airplane all over these United States to run marathons. This Saturday morning, he will run the Mississippi Blues Marathon, which will start and end at the Mississippi State Capitol.

Should he finish, this will be Knobler’s 40th marathon completed. And Mississippi will be the 36th state in which he has run a 26.2 mile race.

Impressive, you say? You haven’t heard the half of it.

Knobler, now 58, didn’t start running marathons — or any distance, really — until 2004, or about a year after he left the Clarion Ledger for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. After seven years in Atlanta, Knobler left the journalism business and went to law school. He started at Georgetown, finished at Yale. He aced law school, of course. About the only facet of life Knobler doesn’t ace is anything athletic. Something tragic occurs between his brain and his muscles. His muscles just don’t get the message.

I’ll give you a sample. We were once playing in a scramble golf tournament at Whisper Lake. Knobler was attempting a wedge shot from 100 yards. His three teammates were standing behind him. Knobler swung and the ball flew right back at us. We ducked in unison. Never saw that before. Never since. His ball didn’t hit anything. It just went backwards. His game was so bad, he was the inspiration for a newspaper-sponsored golf tournament. We called it: “Mississippi’s Worst Golfer.” Alas, Knobler finished second, carding a 154. It wasn’t just golf either. I once saw him try to shoot a basketball after a ballgame in Starkville. He missed the entire backboard from six feet away. Wide left.

So, about these marathons…

“You don’t have to be an athlete to run marathons,” Knobler says. “You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other one. It’s all about perseverance and persistence. You just keep going.”

Easy for him to say. I once was an aspiring marathoner. I made it through a 20-mile training run, then cramped all night and could barely walk the next morning. I quit. Knobler never has. He keeps on going.

He ran one in Wyoming at 8,000 feet. That was the hardest. He has run Boston. Funny story: At the Boston Marathon, runners take buses from Boston to the suburb of Hopkinson for the start of the race. Knobler departed the bus, saw a sign that said “Athletes Village,” and entered proudly.

“I guess this means I am really and truly an athlete,” Knobler remembers saying to himself.

And there was that time at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, where high school cheerleaders volunteered along the race course to cheer the runners. “The first time I had ever had cheerleaders yelling for me,” he says. “I kind of liked it.”

In Helena, Montana, he finished second in the masters division and won 50 bucks. “So I am not only an athlete, I am a professional athlete,” Knobler says.

He is also by far the smartest person I have ever worked with, quite possibly the smartest I have ever known.

During his newly 15 years in Jackson, he dabbled in chess. He dabbled enough to win his division at a state tournament. Once, when my boy child won the county chess championship for fourth graders, I purchased a Bobby Fischer chess computer to help his game along. There were 10 levels, the highest called grand master. The boy and I never got past level 5. Knobler came over one night and we set it at grand master level.

After a few moves, Knobler said, “Hmmm, I think I can see where he’s going…”

He mated the computer in under 10 minutes.

Once we were covering at football game in Gainesville, Fla., and on Friday night before the game we found ourselves at a party attended by some university professors. Talk turned to the Friday New York Times crossword puzzle, notoriously difficult but especially so that day. Somebody handed Knobler the puzzle. He solved it under 10 minutes, using ink. Jaws dropped. “Would have been faster, but I was a little drunk,” he told onlookers.

And, oh, did I mention that now he sometimes constructs crossword puzzles for the New York Times?

The Clarion Ledger once bought a brand new, state-of-the-art computer system and brought in a team of experts to show us how to use it. Knobler showed the experts what the system would really do. Yes, and he ended up teaching the classes.

That intellect doesn’t help him one bit — not even one step — when he runs marathons. 

“You just keep going,” he says. “No matter what, you keep going…”

Yes, Knobler says, he plans to run a marathon in all 50 states.

Then what?

With no hesitation at all, he says, “Continents.”

The post Perseverance? Intellect? This former sports writer has both. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Surgeons appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A proposal to give state lawmakers a pay raise died a quiet, ignominious death without a vote or even discussion on Monday.

The Senate last week passed a bill that would give lawmakers a pay bump of $6,000 for the first year of a four-year term, and $4,500 a year for the other three years of the term. Some House members had expressed interest in a lawmaker pay raise and were awaiting the arrival of the Senate bill in the House.

But Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, held it on a motion to reconsider the vote. For most bills, tabling such a motion is pro forma. But in the case of Senate Bill 2794, McDaniel’s motion to reconsider was not taken up, so the bill died with Monday’s deadline to clear such procedural motions.

McDaniel said he believes legislative leaders caught so much flak for proposing the pay increase that they just let it go.

“The word I’ve used for it is embarrassing,” McDaniel said. “Politicians do not deserve a pay raise. We know what the pay is when we run for office … I do think the (motion to reconsider) delay allowed people around the state to make phone calls and send emails and push back against this.”

Mississippi’s part-time legislators are paid a base of $23,500 a year — although most make between $40,000 and $50,000 a year in salary, per diem, reimbursements and other payments. Some lawmakers’ total compensation is around $70,000 a year.

The $23,500 includes a base salary of $10,000 a year, plus $1,500 a month for office expenses during months when the Legislature is not in session — despite the fact that most lawmakers have other jobs and don’t have separate legislative offices in their district. Many rely on Capitol staffers to help with administrative work year-round.

Lawmakers do not receive the $1,500 a month office payment when the Legislature is in session. Typically, the first year of a term the Legislature meets four months, then three months each of the following three years.

Senate Bill 2794 would have paid lawmakers the $1,500 in months when the Legislature is in session.

Lawmakers also receive about $150 per diem — living expenses — for each day they spend in Jackson (including those who live in or near it), and mileage reimbursement set at the federal government rate, currently about 58 cents a mile. All members are allowed at least four days a month at the Capitol, with chairmen allowed six days and vice chairmen five days. Extra days must be approved.

The post Pay raise for legislators bill dies quiet death appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Numbers crunched at the state Senate’s request by the Legislative Budget Office show a House income tax elimination plan would cause a huge budget hole starting in its second year.

But House leaders say those projections discount booming state revenue, and a modest Senate tax cut plan would not give taxpayers real relief at a time when state coffers are full.

The dueling tax cut proposals could provide the political battle of the year as the 2022 legislative session enters its home stretch. Republican leaders in the House and Senate both want income tax cuts, but they remain far apart on their plans and leaders from each side are criticizing the other.

The major difference in their plans is simple: The House wants a sweeping tax overhaul, and the Senate wants to take a more cautious approach.

“Tax policy should be straightforward and sustainable,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the Republican Senate leader. “Basing tax structures on assumptions which will probably never occur is neither of these things.

“According to the state’s budget analysts, the Senate tax cut plan is durable, it will not incur a future deficit, and it allows our state to continue to fund critical services without growing government,” Hosemann said. “If the state continues record high revenue growth, we will continue returning taxpayer money to the taxpayers.”

But Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn said: “We are not interested in a token tax reduction that returns only a portion to our citizens without eliminating it … We still believe our plan is real, conservative tax relief.”

Meanwhile, some lawmakers do not believe the state is in position to cut taxes. State Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said it is a fallacy to assume there are funds for either tax cut plan.

“We are not paying state employees, our roads are crumbling. We have not funded the schools,” Bryan said. “We don’t have water and sewer. We can cut taxes and not have a functioning society. That is where we are heading now.”

The House plan vs. the Senate plan

Gunn has said eliminating the state income tax is the most important goal of his political career. To accomplish that goal, House leaders want to phase out the state’s income tax, starting with major exemptions in year one that would mean most Mississippians would pay no income tax, coupled with an increase in sales taxes.

The Gunn plan, which has already passed the House, phases out the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue, while increasing the sales tax on most retail items from 7% percent to 8.5% and cutting the cost of car tags in half.

The plan also reduces the grocery tax eventually from 7% to 4%. When fully enacted, the plan would result in an overall reduction in state revenue of about $1.4 billion in today’s dollars — a significant amount, considering the state general fund is $5.8 billion this year.

A large part of the House proposal, though, does not go into effect unless certain revenue growth projections are met over about a decade. Some say it would take much longer than a decade to meet the revenue growth projections.

READ MORE: Speaker Gunn’s plan to eliminate income tax, reduce food tax

The Senate, led by Hosemann, is proposing a much more modest tax cut that would, based on projections developed for the Senate leadership, prevent major spending cuts and would maintain funds to deal with inflationary growth and various needs facing the state.

Instead of eliminating the income tax altogether like the House plan, the Senate plan would phase out only the 4% state income tax bracket over four years. This, coupled with elimination of the 3% tax bracket effective last year, would mean people would pay no state income tax on their first $26,600 of income. The Senate plan, at the end of four years of cuts, would cost $316 million a year, plus a one-time expense of $130 million its first year for a rebate to taxpayers.

The Senate plan would also reduce the state grocery tax from 7% to 5%, provide up to a 5% income tax rebate in 2022 for those who paid taxes, and eliminate the state fee on car tags going into the general fund.

READ MORE: Senate unveils income tax cut plan, signaling battle among Capitol leaders

The House proposal passed through its chamber with bipartisan support and is now in the hands of Senate leaders. The Senate hasn’t yet passed its plan, although that is expected in coming days.

What the projections say

The Legislative Budget Office projections the Senate requested about the House plan are based on assumptions from historical trends in revenue, spending and inflation. They show that by year two, the House plan would create more than a $250 million revenue shortfall, and the state would remain in the red for the next three years — requiring large spending cuts or tax increases. The projections do not go beyond five years.

The Senate projections use a revenue estimate of $6.49 billion for next fiscal year, the state’s current official revenue estimate.

But House leaders, including Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, say the state is set to collect far more than that, as it is on track to do for the current year.

“What I don’t want to get out there is that the state can’t afford the House plan,” Lamar said. “There’s two easy ways we can afford the House plan. No. 1, change that estimate that the Senate is using — that we know is wrong — to the tune of about $600 million. Use actual collections instead of — I’m not going to call it a bogus estimate — but there are more,green dollars coming in that we know are there … Put $7 billion in there, and the red numbers go away at the bottom of their page.

“Or,” Lamar said, “you just leave it there, ignore the money coming in and leave it there, and we’ve got more than $2 billion set aside, on top of the rainy day fund. Take about $400 million to $500 million and put it aside and push it forward into these years — worst case — or we don’t go spend it on a road somewhere, or you spend $1.5 billion on a road and put $400 million aside.”

But his Senate counterpart, Finance Chair Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, said: “In recent years, under conservative leadership, we stopped the irresponsible practice of using one-time money to pay recurring expenses. Right now, we have an influx of one-time federal funds from a federal government that is spending excessively. The Senate has a durable tax cut which will put more money in taxpayers’ pockets and withstand any economic instability.”

READ MORE: Business leaders oppose Gunn’s income tax elimination-sales tax increase

At issue in the projections developed for the Senate by the Legislative Budget Office is the impact of the House plan in the first two years. The cuts in the first two years are not dependent on growth projections to go into effect.

In the first two years of the House plan, the first $40,000 in income for a single person and first $80,000 of income for a married couple will be exempted from taxation, at a cost of $103.6 million for fiscal year 2024, which starts July 1, 2023. The cost of cutting car tag fees in half would be $187.7 million annually and the cost of cutting the grocery tax would be $103.6 million for fiscal 2024.

In addition, the state would receive $705.5 million from increasing the sales tax on most retail items from 7% to 8.5%.

House leaders question the projections

All of the revenue assumptions of both plans are based on projections made by the Department of Revenue and by the state’s financial experts, legislative leaders say.

The Senate projection of the impact of the House plan on overall state revenue uses the revenue estimate adopted by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which includes Gunn and Lamar, and the governor, as its starting point in developing its projections. The committee and Gov. Tate Reeves unanimously adopted an estimate in December 2021 of $6.49 billion as the projection of the amount of revenue that will be available to budget in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Even though Lamar and other House leaders voted for that projection, they now say it leaves money on the table. The state is currently experiencing unprecedented revenue growth. The House in developing a fiscal analysis of its own plan projects an additional $1.1 million in revenue for the current year that could be applied toward the tax cut.

Lamar says he believes revenue will be strong not only for this fiscal year, but that it will remain strong in the ensuing years. Revenue collections for the current fiscal year already are $667 million above projections with five months remaining in the fiscal year. Lamar said money will be available to fund vital needs, including a teacher pay raise of more than $200 million, which has passed both chambers of the Legislature in different forms and still must be reconciled before the end of the session.

But Senate leaders maintain that even when using the House projections, it is likely that revenue will not be available during the 2023 session to fund the teacher pay raises and other spending that both sides have said they want to pass this year.

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Senate leaders say history has shown that state economic boons spurred by federal spending — such as Hurricane Katrina recovery, the Great Recession stimulus, BP oil disaster funds and now COVID-relief funding — are fleeting. They say with inflation at historic levels and other uncertainties in the economy, a conservative approach is warranted, not a complete overhaul in tax structure.

Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez, the House Democratic leader, voted for the House plan, but does not sound sold on it, acknowledging the many needs facing the state. Johnson questioned whether the Republican majority can ultimately agree on a plan to eliminate the income tax because of disagreements in how to undertake such a massive endeavor.

“I am betting they butt heads and nobody passes anything,” Johnson recently predicted, but added that at least Gunn’s plan cuts the state’s grocery tax and reduces by 50% the cost of car tags, both of which he said aided poor people and working families.

The post Inside the income tax cut battle between House and Senate leaders appeared first on Mississippi Today.