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

A sweeping bill that would eliminate Mississippi’s personal income tax and cut the sales tax on groceries in half while increasing the sales tax on other items by 2.5 cents passed the House on Tuesday.

As the bill was being passed, Gov. Tate Reeves praised House GOP leaders for their proposal to phase out the personal income tax, but threw cold water on their plan for commensurate increases in sales and other taxes to balance the books.

“I wouldn’t want to be a Republican that votes to increase taxes substantially for certain segments of the public,” Republican Reeves said during a news conference. “… I personally support tax cuts, not tax swaps or tax transfers or tax increases … I don’t think we ought to sit here and pick and choose who to take money from. I think we ought to take less from everybody.”

As Reeves was speaking, the proposal passed the House by an 85-34 vote (needing 72 to pass) after Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, took about 30 minutes of questions on the bill called the Mississippi Tax Freedom Act. While most of the questions were by those opposed to the measure, no one rose to speak against the bill. Most of those voting no were Democrats, though some in the minority, including House Democratic leader Robert Johnson of Natchez, voted for the proposal.

“All Mississippians can look to this as a red-letter day,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn, who authored the bill along with Pro Tem Jason White and Lamar. “… For every Mississippian who pays an income tax, today is the day we started down the road to eliminating that burden. There will be an immediate benefit to the citizens of the state with the passage of this plan … There is coming a day when the entire income tax is eliminated.”

READ MORE: House leaders move to eliminate Mississippi income tax, raise sales and other taxes in landmark bill

The bill would exempt the tax on the first $50,000 in income for an individual and first $100,000 for married couple starting with the 2022 tax year. And then over a 10-year period the personal income tax would be completely phased out, though the yearly reduction would be postponed in any year where revenue does not grow by 2.5%.

In addition, the 7% tax on groceries would be cut to 4.5% on July 1 and within five years reduced to 3.5%. Also on July 1, the sales tax on most retail items would be raised from 7% to 9.5% and the sales tax on other items which is currently 5% or less, such as manufacturing equipment, vehicles and airplanes, would be increased by 2.5% in an attempt to make the proposal revenue neutral.

The tax on cigarettes would be increased by 50 cents a pack, and taxes on vaping devices, alcohol and other items would also increase.

Lamar said a person making $50,000 a year would see a decrease in taxes of $2,035 and would need to spend about $82,000 to pay as much in sales taxes as the savings in income taxes. A married couple earning $100,000 would save $4,535 and would have to spend $181,400 to pay as much in sales tax as in income tax savings.

Lamar said the bill “broadened the tax base” by charging more sales tax for those who might not be paying income taxes because they were visiting the state or were cheating the state by not paying the income taxes they owed. By the same token, he said, all working people would receive a tax break.

But Rep. Bo Brown, D-Jackson, said the increase in the sales tax would hurt poor people who might not pay income taxes because of their low income.

Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Charleston, praised the effort to cut the grocery tax that would be an aid to poor people, but still voted against the proposal because the bill also would provide income tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Instead of giving people earning more than $100,000 a tax break, I would rather eliminate the grocery tax and help more people,” Reynolds said.

But Johnson, the Democratic leader in the House, said overall he supported the bill and expressed hope that before the proposal makes its way through the legislative process more might be done to help low-income earners.

“I keep looking for the Trojan horse, the trick in this, but it seems like something I would write,” Johnson said. “It’s a bill for the working people of Mississippi, and right now it looks like the budget concerns we had have been addressed.”

But The Parents Campaign, an education advocacy group, questioned whether the proposal would be revenue neutral and, if not, could negatively impact needed education funding. In addition, the group said the proposal could be devasting for the state’s pre-kindergarten program.

“Mississippi Early Learning Collaboratives got more than $5.5 million in donations via income tax credit incentives in 2020 – almost half of all collaborative funding,” the Parent’s Campaign said Tuesday in social media posts urging its members and lawmakers to oppose the bill.

The plan includes the House’s $1,000 a year teacher pay raise, and that coupled with tax cuts, teachers making $50,000 a year would “immediately” benefit by $3,000 a year total, and those making $40,000 by $2,500.

Gunn said 57% of Mississippians fall into the $50,000 or under group.

Reeves said the phased elimination of the lowest bracket of income tax — passed when he was lieutenant governor in 2016 — shows that all personal income taxes could be phased out over time without a corresponding increase in other taxes. He did not mention that more than 50 tax cuts enacted during his term as lieutenant governor, most for corporations, coincided with several years of drastic state agency budget cuts, deficit spending and raiding of state “rainy day funds.”

“The state collected $400 million more through the first seven months of this fiscal year than was budgeted,” Reeves said Tuesday. “What if we let Mississippians keep that money rather than spend it somewhere else?”

While there might be attempts to force a reconsideration of the vote on the bill, it most likely will advance to the Senate in the coming days.

Asked whether he and other House leaders had communicated with the governor in drafting the measure, Gunn replied with a curt, “No.” As for communications with the Senate and-or lieutenant governor, Gunn said, “We have talked in general terms that eliminating the income tax is important for us,” but indicated Senate leaders had not been involved in drafting the measure.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, through a spokeswoman, had no comment on the proposal on Tuesday. Some Senate leaders said the House unveiling of the bill caught them by surprise, although they were vaguely aware the House was discussing an income tax cut measure.

The post Gov. Reeves pours cold water on income tax cut plan as it passes House appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Tuesday that teachers and first responders in Mississippi can begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines starting on March 1.

The expanded eligibility includes all K-12 school, preschool and daycare employees, who can begin scheduling open vaccine appointments on Feb. 23. It does not include college educators or employees.

“This is exciting news for people who are working hard to keep our schools open and our streets safe,” Reeves said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Monday that 341,102 people in Mississippi — about 12% of the state’s population — have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. About 145,941 people have received both doses since the state began distributing vaccines in December.

As vaccine eligibility increases, COVID-19 cases and deaths continue their dramatic decline in Mississippi — an encouraging sign after a brutal winter spike that set new records for both statistics.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 348 new COVID-19 cases of COVID-19 and 24 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday. This brings Mississippi to a total of 291,222 coronavirus cases and 6,577 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.

January saw the most coronavirus-related deaths in a single month in Mississippi, with 1,240 confirmed. The state also set new single-day records for new cases: 3,255 cases on Jan. 7, and 98 deaths on Jan. 12.

Additionally, the number of COVID-19 cases, COVID-related hospital admissions and clinic visits for COVID-19 like illnesses in Mississippi have been trending sharply downward in 2021.

Mask mandates are currently in effect in 75 of Mississippi’s 82 counties. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original statewide mandate issued by Gov. Tate Reeves on Aug. 4 with helping cases improve after a sharp summer spike. Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate on Sept. 30, but has since issued orders for the individual counties.

Last week’s winter storm caused many across the state to have to postpone vaccination appointments as drive-thru clinics and county health departments closed due to hazardous weather conditions.

MAP: Mississippi’s COVID-19 vaccine locations

All of the MSDH drive-thru vaccination appointments that were canceled due to the closures have been automatically rescheduled for some day this week at the same time as the initial appointment. As a result, MSDH drive-thru clinics will be vaccinating a much higher number of people than usual this week. A MSDH spokesperson confirmed that no vaccine doses expired over the course of last week’s closures. 

The post Mississippi teachers, first responders eligible for COVID-19 vaccines on March 1 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday passed a bill that would eliminate Mississippi’s personal income tax within a decade and reduce the state’s highest-in-the-nation tax on groceries while raising the sales tax and other taxes.

The landmark tax bill was authored by the three highest-ranking House Republicans: Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, Pro Tem Jason White and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Trey Lamar.

“This is a much fairer tax structure,” Lamar said, adding that the bill is essentially revenue neutral. Lamar said that the leaders drafted the bill in hopes it would garner bipartisan support. It passed the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday with no dissenting votes, including from the several Democrats on the committee.

The bill would immediately eliminate the personal income tax for individuals making under $50,000 a year and for married couples making less than $100,000. It would totally phase out the state’s personal income tax over a 10-year period if revenue growth standards are met. If the growth standards are not met, the tax cut for that year would be delayed.

In addition, the 7% tax on groceries would, as of July 1, be reduced to 4.5% and ultimately reduced to 3.5%. Cutting the state’s grocery tax has long been a top stated goal of legislative Democrats.

Other taxes would be increased to make up for lost revenue from the proposed cuts. The general sales tax on other retail items, which is currently 7%, would be increased to 9.5% starting July 1. The sales tax on vehicles, currently 5%, would be increased to 7.5%. Essentially, all items currently taxed at 2% or 3%, such as some farm implements, would be increased by 2.5%.

The 68 cents per pack tax on cigarettes would be increased by 50 cents. Taxes also would be increased on other items such as alcohol.

Lamar said a person making $50,000 per year would receive an immediate savings of about $2,030 and would have to spend more than $82,000 on items to pay as much in sales taxes as they would be saving in income taxes.

White also stressed that the legislation would ensure that the revenue municipal governments lost from the reduction in the grocery tax would be replaced by the state. Local governments receive a portion of the sales tax revenue collected within its borders.

Lamar said he hopes to bring the bill up for House vote on Tuesday. If the bill passes there, it will move to the Senate for consideration.

READ MORE: Key House leader says Mississippi should cut highest-in-nation grocery tax

In addition to taking up the massive tax bill, legislators, facing a tight deadline from time lost to last week’s unprecedented winter storms, hurriedly passed a first draft of a $20 billion state budget Monday afternoon.

Lawmakers have until Wednesday to pass about 100 appropriations bills out of the originating House or Senate and on to the other chamber. Wednesday is also the deadline for first passage of legislation dealing with taxes.

Gov. Tate Reeves proposed phasing out the state’s personal income tax — which generates nearly $2 billion a year, or a third of the state’s general fund — before the session began. But he did not offer any tax increases to offset the lost state revenue.

Gunn and members of his leadership team in the House had proposed in earlier sessions phasing out the income tax. At that time, they wanted to tie the phase-out to an increase in the gasoline tax, but Reeves, serving as lieutenant governor at the time, rejected that proposal saying he opposed any tax increases, even if they were swaps.

The bill passed out of House Ways and Means Committee Monday does not change the tax on gasoline.

A spokeswoman for Reeves did not return a request for comment on Monday.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves hopes his tax cut plan makes him the hammer, not the nail in 2021.

Working to get back on schedule on Monday, the House and Senate Appropriations committees passed most budgets at the amount approved this fall by the members who serve on the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. That makes most budget bills placeholders at this point. Later in the legislative process in March, House and Senate leaders will work out final budget numbers the full chambers can accept or send back for further work.

“This is our first crack at looking at our expected revenue and the expectations we have for our state agencies,” said Sen. Briggs Hopson, the Vicksburg Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee. Recent projections are that state revenue is running at least $300 million above earlier projections, despite the continuing global pandemic.

Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday passed a couple of exceptions to the placeholder numbers. It approved a $51 million increase to the main public education budget to cover a roughly $1,000 pay raise for teachers — a proposal the Senate passed earlier this year — and it shifted $6.4 million from the Department of Finance to the Department of Public Safety for DPS to take over control of the Capitol Police, which the Senate likewise has already passed.

Hopson warned his committee colleagues that they’ll likely have to deal with several deficits from state agencies — although those numbers aren’t yet nailed down and the “deficit bill” was passed as a placeholder.

Sen. Sollie Norwood, D-Jackson, asked Hopson: “Are we setting the budgets too low, then they have to come back for deficits, or are they not operating efficiently enough?”

Hopson noted that the Department of Corrections and Medicaid often have large deficits, and setting their budgets is difficult because their expenses are “moving targets.” But he said other agencies that don’t live within their budgets will have some explaining to do.

“One thing I’ve said to agencies … deficits are for unseen problems,” Hopson said. “I’m not going to be real sympathetic to any agency just coming in expecting deficit spending for things they should have expected.”

The total state budget, including federal funds, is about $20 billion. Another large slice of the budget is funded through special funds — specific fees or taxes to run individual agencies, such as the gasoline tax that is the primary state funding source for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The $6 billion state support budget is the portion of the funding pie where legislators have the most discretion in how funds are divvied up for education, health care, law enforcement and in other areas.

The post House leaders move to eliminate Mississippi income tax, raise sales and other taxes in landmark bill appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Thousands of residents in Jackson, the state’s largest city, are still without running water Monday after last week’s historic winter storm disrupted the city’s aging infrastructure.

A majority of residents in south Jackson and parts of west Jackson have no water service at all, and most of the city’s entire population has low water pressure. City officials have given no official timeline for service restoration, but they said on Monday they think most of the city will have running water by midweek.

“We have to have a lot of things that go perfectly over the next couple of days,” Charles Williams, Jackson’s public works director, said on Monday. “We know we’re gonna have a couple of setbacks, but that’s what we are aiming for.”

A historic winter storm slammed the state last week, freezing and bursting many water pipes in the capital city. Jackson residents have flocked to grocery stores, making bottled water extremely difficult to come by in the metro area. Hundreds of residents have lined up at the city’s water giveaway sites, and several churches and volunteer groups have mobilized efforts to distribute water to those in need.

The first hurdle the city faced in restoring water service was restoring water pressure to the system. The pressure, which should be 80 pounds per square inch (PSI) or higher at the city’s water treatment plants, sunk to 37 PSI last Wednesday. As of Monday afternoon, pressure had been restored to 67 PSI.

When the city’s water pressure collapsed last week due to the winter storm, iced-in residents depleted the city’s water reserves, which created a cascading line of service failures. The icy roads also delayed the transportation of chemicals to treat the city’s water.

Another challenge in restoring water service will be a surge in water line breaks that is likely to occur as water pressure returns. The city has reported 25 water line breaks since last week and had repaired six of them by Monday afternoon.

In an effort to streamline the recovery and repair process going forward, the Jackson City Council voted on Monday to declare a state of local emergency. This will allow Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba to hire contractors for repairs and other services without receiving multiple bids for them.

Williams said that the maintenance crews currently repairing water main lines can handle the level of demand they’re experiencing, but that additional contractors may have to be hired if the city sees its larger water lines begin to burst with the return of pressure. Residents are asked to call 311 if they see any burst lines.

During a press conference on Monday, Lumumba acknowledged that Jackson’s water system, with its decades-old pipes and lines, are in desperate need of repair, and estimated upgrades would cost around $2 billion.

“We are long overdue for a major investment from the federal government towards city infrastructures,” Lumumba said. “We have aged infrastructure that cannot be replaced in one calendar year, it can’t be replaced, you know, even over the course of four years. It takes a lot to make such a significant investment.”

The city is continuing to distribute non-potable (flushing) water to residents. Many resorted to collecting large amounts of snow from the streets last week and melting it down just to flush their toilets. Jackson residents can bring containers to the following locations until Monday night to receive non-potable water:

• Forest Hill High School – 2607 Raymond Road, Jackson, MS 39212
• Raines Elementary School – 156 N Flag Chapel Road, Jackson, MS 39209

Residents can also call these numbers to report non-emergencies relating to water service disruptions:

• 601-960-1111
• 601-960-1777
• 601-960-1781
• 601-960-1778
• 601-960-0379
• 601-960-1779

The post Thousands in Jackson, the state’s largest city, are still without water following historic winter storm appeared first on Mississippi Today.

READ: Thousands in Jackson, the state’s largest city, are still without water following historic winter storm

The post Marshall Ramsey: H2-No appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this week’s episode of The Other Side, Mississippi Today journalists Bobby Harrison and Adam Ganucheau break down two key transportation funding bills, including the eyebrow-raising proposal to let Mississippi voters decide whether to raise the state’s gasoline tax.

Listen here:

The post Podcast: Could Mississippi finally raise its gas tax? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Deion Sanders got his first head coaching victory Sunday, and that was just for starters. He also got an icy Gatorade bath. He was presented a trophy on the field, and then his players awarded him the game ball in the locker room — “one of the best moments of my professional sports career,” he would call the game ball presentation.

You’d think he’d would have been smiling from ear to ear in his first postgame press conference as head football coach at Jackson State.

He was not.

“I’m pissed. I’ve got mixed emotions,” Sanders said, and then he said a whole lot more.

He said he had been robbed, that someone had stolen his belongings out of the coaches’ dressing room while the game — a 53-0 JSU victory over Edward Waters College — was being played. He said somebody had pilfered his wallet, credit cards, cell phone and watches. “Thank God I had on my necklaces,” he said.

“So when I talk about raising the quality and raising the standards, that goes for everyone, not just the people on the field, not just the coaches, not just the teachers, not just the faculty — everybody, security and everybody.”

Just a few minutes later came the remarkable news that Sanders had not been robbed after all. His belongings had been moved for safekeeping. They were back in his possession.

So file this one under the category: All’s well that ends well…

Unless, that is, you are the Edward Waters College Tigers, a Division II school from Jacksonville, Fla. For Edward Waters, things did not begin well, proceed well or end well. And when it did mercifully end, the losers faced a nine-hour bus ride back to the east coast of Florida.

So, what to make of the coaching debut of Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and a neophyte college head coach?

It’s hard to say. The talent differential between the two sets of Tigers was almost like men and boys. Edward Waters had won eight games and lost 35 over the last four seasons. They were playing a long way from home and decidedly out of their class.

Never mind Sanders’ Tigers were playing without many of their most highly touted recruits and transfers who won’t be eligible until the fall. The Mississippi Tigers were bigger, better and faster at virtually all positions. They took command from the outset.

The visitors’ return man was savaged at his own 19-yard line on the opening kickoff. A first down pass fluttered like a winged duck, landing nowhere near a human being. A second down run gained three yards. A third down pass was dropped by an JSU defender. And then came an 18-yard punt. And so it went…

A Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium announced crowd of 11,000, including Sanders’ former Dallas Cowboys teammate Troy Aikman, applauded politely as JSU, breaking from tradition with bright red jerseys and trousers, rolled up the score, 17-0 after one quarter, 31-0 at half.

All in all, the game had the feel of a spring football game, which, come to think of it, it was — except that it counts in the record books. COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 SWAC fall football season. Some SWAC teams, such as Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State are playing abbreviated spring schedules. Others, such as Alcorn State, will wait until the fall. Jackson State and MVSU will play at The Vet Saturday for the second of the Tigers’ seven-game spring schedule.

We’ll know a little more Jackson State after that one — and a lot more after Sanders takes his team to Grambling State on March 6.

For now, all we know for sure is that Jackson State is infinitely better than Edward Waters and that Coach Prime, 1-0, got his valuables back to go with his game ball. Then, perhaps, he was able to smile.

The post Coach Prime got a Gatorade bath, a game ball — and, he got his stuff back appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jackson State University’s first-year head coach Deion Sanders led his Tigers to a resounding 53-0 victory over the Edward Waters College Tigers on Sunday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

Jackson State’s season is being played this spring after the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) postponed its 2020 fall season due to COVID-19.

The post Photos: Jackson State routs Edward Waters College in Deion Sanders’ coaching debut appeared first on Mississippi Today.