GOP and Dem Leaders Agree: No New Taxes
Despite some differences on how to balance the budget for FY2011, House and Senate leaders, along with the governor, all seem to be in agreement that tax increases are out of the picture.
- Haley Barbour: “Raising taxes during an economic downturn slows recovery and puts an unfair burden on our taxpayers.”
- Phil Bryant: “We believe the worst thing we could do now is increase taxes on individuals and businesses.”
- Billy McCoy: “We would not entertain it (a tax increase).”
The National Conference of State Legislatures has a detailed state-by-state outline of plans for raising sales, income, and corporate taxes both proposed and enacted by various states to balance the 2010 budgets. The specific details of what other states will do to handle FY2011 remains to be seen, but it is clear that Mississippi was the minority when it came to not raising taxes (save the hospital and tobacco taxes) during the past two sessions.
Click here to see the main page for budget savings and additional revenue as complied by the NCSL.
The border states of Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana all joined Mississippi is rejecting sales, income, or corporate taxes. Tennessee, which does not have an income tax, extended sales tax to include software maintenance agreements and eliminating the exemption for in-house software used by companies. These new taxes were expected to generate a measly $10.5 million.
Several states, however, took a much more liberal approach mainly choosing to increase corporate tax rates and income tax rates for high-earners.
