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How Mississippi’s tax structure favors the wealthy and hurts the poor

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Mississippi has the nation’s lowest per capita income at $46,248 annually and the highest percentage of people living in poverty at 18.2%.

Yet the state’s tax structure does little if anything to try to offset those statistics for the state’s poorest citizens.

In fact, the tax structure does more to harm the poor than to help them. Mississippi’s low-wage earners pay a greater percentage of their income in state and local taxes than do the state’s more affluent residents, a recent study found.

A January report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy found that Mississippi has the 19th-most regressive tax system in the nation, where low-income residents are forced to pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than the state’s wealthier citizens.

The study shows the income tax is the only tax that requires wealthy Mississippians to pay more than the poor. Gov. Tate Reeves wants to eliminate the income tax. The personal income tax already has been cut twice in recent years. In addition, multiple tax cuts for businesses also have been enacted or are being phased in.

Currently, a $525 million reduction in the income tax is being phased in plus the state also is phasing out a major tax on businesses. Instead of eliminating the income tax, Kyra Roby, policy analyst for One Voice, which advocates for the poor in Mississippi, said that tax cut should be reversed and that the state should add a 6% income tax bracket for those earning more than $100,000 annually.

According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy report, the bottom 20% of Mississippi wage earners — those earning less than $19,300 — pay 12.4% of their income in state and local taxes, which is more than any other income group.

By contrast, the top 1% in Mississippi — those making more than $362,300 annually — pay 6.9% of their income in state and local taxes. The next 4%, earning between $182,500 and $362.300, pay 8.2%, and the next 15%, earning between $104,800 and $182,500, pay 9.6%.

What makes the Mississippi tax system so punitive for the poor is primarily the state’s sales tax. Mississippi’s 7% sales tax on most retail items is among the highest in the nation. And the state’s 7% sales tax on food is the highest statewide grocery tax in the nation. Sales taxes and excise taxes, such as those levied on internet sales, are viewed as being more of a burden on the poor than on the wealthy. The tax on food is considered particularly punitive for the poor since it requires a poor person to pay a greater percentage of their income for a necessity than the wealthy.

Reeves has long advocated for eliminating the income tax as has much of the House leadership in recent years. Reeves argues that eliminating the income tax would boost the state economy and help working Mississippians. Reeves cites three states that he says he wants to emulate in eliminating the income tax: Texas, Tennessee and Florida. Interestingly, all three, like Mississippi, have a greater percentage of their residents living in poverty than the national average.

While House leaders have in the past voiced support for Reeves’ plan to eliminate the income tax, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, has said he would support further tax cuts, but stopped short of endorsing a complete elimination of the income tax this year. Hosemann also said a cut and possibly an elimination of the grocery tax should be considered.

Although it is generally conceded that eliminating the grocery tax would be more beneficial to poor Mississippians, that decision would have much more of an impact on state revenue.

Research in 2019 conducted by the campaign of Jim Hood, the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor that year, estimated that the complete elimination of the grocery tax would cost the state $327 million annually. The personal income tax generates more than $2 billion annually in state revenue, though that number could drop in future years as the $525 million tax cut enacted in 2022 is phased in.

Reeves has never been an advocate for reducing or eliminating the grocery tax, though many other Republican policymakers have in the past.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1960

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-01 07:00:00

Jan. 1, 1960 

Jackie Robinson with the Brppklyn Dodgers, 1954. Credit: Photo by Bob Sandberg (Courtesy: Library of Congress)

Nearly 1,000 Black protesters marched 10 miles through the rain and sleet to the downtown airport in Greenville, South Carolina, to protest its segregation policies and its mistreatment of Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in Major League Baseball. 

Months earlier, Robinson had come to speak at an NAACP banquet, where he encouraged Black Americans. As he left the airport that night, he sat with NAACP leader Gloster Current in the “Whites-only” waiting room at the airport, where Robinson signed autographs. The airport manager ordered them to move to the “Colored” waiting room. They said no. 

When the manager brought a police officer, they responded that they had a legal right to stay where they were and refused to move. After the incident, Robinson complained to the NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall, whose office was already pursuing a case against the airport. In the future, Robinson said, “I hope that we can walk in the airport and sit down and enjoy ourselves.” 

During their march, protesters sang “America the Beautiful” and other songs in what they called their “prayer pilgrimage.” As they arrived at the airport, they were met by a 300-man white mob that included Klansmen. The protesters continued, and 15 of them entered the airport. 

“We will no longer make a pretense of being satisfied with the crumbs of citizenship while others enjoy the whole loaf only by the right of a white-skinned birth,” the Rev. C.D. McCullough of Orangeburg declared. 

The walls of segregation soon fell at both airports.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Legislature will have to address judicial, legislative redistricting next year

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mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2025-01-01 06:00:00

Mississippi lawmakers next year will have to put together two complex jigsaw puzzles when they gather under the Capitol dome for their 2025 session.  

State lawmakers will be required to redraw Mississippi’s 23 Circuit Court and 20 Chancery Court districts and comply with a federal court order to redraw some of their own legislative districts, as well. 

“It’s going to be very, very difficult to do this,” Senate President Pro Tempore Dean Kirby told Mississippi Today.

Kirby, a Republican from Pearl and chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said that Senate leadership plans to comply with an order from a  federal three-judge panel who ruled earlier this year the Legislature must create new state Senate and House maps with Black-majority districts and conduct special elections in 2025 under those newly created districts. 

The Mississippi Conference of the NAACP and Black voters from across the state filed a federal lawsuit against the state last year arguing the legislative districts that were drawn in 2022 by the state Legislature diluted Black voting strength. 

The state has a Black population of about 38%. Currently there are 42-Black majority districts in the 122-member House and 15 Black majority districts in the 52-seat Senate.

The federal panel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the state to create a majority-Black Senate district in the DeSoto County area in north Mississippi and one in the Hattiesburg area in south Mississippi. The panel also ruled the state must create a majority-Black House district in the Chickasaw County area in northeast Mississippi. 

However, the Legislature will also have to tweak many districts in the state to accommodate for the new Black-majority maps. State officials in court filings have argued that the redrawing would affect a quarter of the state’s 174 legislative districts.

“None of us are happy we’re having to do this,” Kirby said. 

Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, speaks during debate, March 29, 2022, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Legislative leaders will also have to address changing the boundaries of the state’s chancery and circuit court judicial districts. 

State law mandates the Legislature must complete judicial redistricting  by the fifth year after the U.S. Census is administered. The last Census was performed in 2020, meaning the Legislature’s deadline is 2025. 

If the Legislature does not redraw the districts by the deadline, state law requires the chief justice of the state Supreme Court to modify the districts.

Senate Judiciary A Chairman Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, will be the main point-person in the Senate for judicial redistricting. 

The current court districts have largely remained unchanged for 30 years. But Wiggins told reporters in November that he wants to substantially redraw the judicial districts based on population shifts and caseload data collected from the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Legislature’s watchdog and research office and other agencies. 

State Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, during a Senate Corrections Committee meeting on Feb. 13, 2020, at the Capitol in Jackson. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

The Jackson County lawmaker, over the objections of some Democrats, tried to push a bill through the Legislature during the 2024 session to overhaul the district boundaries, but negotiations between the House and the Senate stalled in the end.

Wiggins’ reason for trying to overhaul the district lines is that some districts around the state hear thousands more cases than others, and judges receive the same taxpayer-funded salary, regardless of the number of cases they deal with.

House Judiciary B Chairman Kevin Horan, a Republican from Grenada, is the lead House negotiator on judicial redistricting. He did not respond to a request for comment on the House’s plans for judicial redistricrting.  

House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, said through a spokesperson that he will “continue to gather feedback from members” and plans to “come forward with a plan for judicial and legislative redistricting.” 

The 2025 legislative session will begin on January 7.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Bolivar County workshop empowers expecting parents

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mississippitoday.org – Eric J. Shelton – 2024-12-31 10:41:00

Lakiyah Green, an expecting mother, holds her stomach outside the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024, after attending a workshop for expecting parents. She is six months pregnant and preparing for the birth of her first child in March. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

At the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, expecting parents gathered in early December for a hands-on workshop to prepare for labor and delivery.

The event, led by certified doula Brittany Isler, aimed to equip families with tools and confidence for a safe birth experience.

Among the attendees was Lakiyah Green, 17, who is six months pregnant and expecting her first baby, a boy, in March. Isler will be Green’s doula later this year and receive free services to guide her through the birthing process.

“I wanted to learn everything about birth,” Green said. “I saw this online, and my stepmother encouraged me to come. The positions and movement techniques we learned today were so helpful.”

Green shared her excitement for the journey ahead.

“I’m excited and have confidence in the process,” she said. “Coming here gave me even more confidence.” When asked what she was most excited about, her answer came with a smile: “Just meeting my baby.”

Lakiyah Green, an expecting mother, sits on a birthing ball during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. The ball is used to help promote movement and comfort during labor. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Isler, who has worked as a doula for three years, is passionate about empowering families with knowledge and support.

“Lactation is my first love, but I became a doula after hearing clients’ birth stories and realizing they needed more support,” she said. “I’ve experienced traumatic births myself, and I know how important it is to advocate for moms and teach them they have a voice.”

Brittany Isler, a certified doula, poses for a portrait at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. Isler, who has been supporting expecting parents for three years, offers free doula services to those in the Mississippi Delta. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

The workshop emphasized evidence-based practices, including six simple steps for achieving a safe and healthy birth.

“Many moms in this area don’t know their options or feel they have the right to ask questions,” Isler explained. “Classes like these help break down stigmas and empower parents with knowledge.”

Brittany Isler, a certified doula, walks through a slideshow about birthing techniques during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. She guided expecting parents through key information to help prepare for a safe and confident birth experience. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

In Mississippi, where maternal health outcomes are among the poorest in the nation, free workshops and services like these provide critical resources to families who might not otherwise afford doula support.

“Education helps improve outcomes because knowledge is power,” Isler added. “Now, these parents know they have choices, and they’re not alone.”

The session created a warm and welcoming environment, with parents sharing their thoughts and learning about building a supportive birth team. Events like this offer hope and reassurance to families preparing for childbirth in a state where maternal health education is critically needed.

Brittany Isler, a certified doula, provides birthing information to expecting mother Lakiyah Green during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. The event aimed to empower parents with tools and knowledge for a safe and confident birth experience. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Attendees listen as Brittany Isler, a certified doula, provides birthing information during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Brittany Isler, a certified doula, presents a slideshow on birthing techniques during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. She provided expecting parents with valuable information to help them prepare for a safe and informed birth. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Gift boxes filled with new mom essentials, including diapers, wipes, and bottles, are in place at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024, during a workshop for expecting parents. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
New mom essentials, including diapers, wipes, and bottles, are seen inside gift boxes at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024, during a workshop for expecting parents. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Brittany Isler, a certified doula, presents expecting mother Lakiyah Green with a gift box of new mom essentials, including diapers, wipes, and bottles, during a workshop at the Bolivar County Library in Cleveland, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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