Black Mississippians’ votes do not count as much in white-majority districts. In-vitro fertilization is not protected under Mississippi law. Elementary and secondary reading scores are improving, but math scores are falling behind. Mississippians still do not have access to Medicaid expansion. And the state still has an income tax and a tax on groceries.
As lawmakers begin the 2025 legislative session, here’s a rundown of the issues legislators and other state leaders want to address.
Income-Tax Elimination
Mississippi could eliminate the state income tax, reduce taxes on groceries and add a fuel tax over the next decade under House Bill 1, the “Build Up Mississippi Act,” which could affect $1 billion in revenue based on data from the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s annual report for fiscal year 2023.
“We will Build Up Mississippi by eliminating the income tax to further our state’s competitive advantage and award our workforce,” House Speaker Rep. Jason White, R-West, said in a press release on Jan. 10. “We will build up Mississippi by cutting the grocery tax in half to boost the pocketbook of Mississippians.”
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The House Ways and Means Committee passed the bill on Jan. 14. If the bill passes through both chambers and earns Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature, it would reduce the income-tax rate from 4% to 3% this year and lower the rate by 0.3% each year for 10 years until the tax is gone.Â
Mississippi’s 7% tax on groceries would fall to 2.5% by 2036. The city that collected the tax and the state currently split the revenue from the 7% sales tax, where the city gets 18.5% of the revenue and the state gets the rest. Under H.B. 1, the state budget would garner all funds from the sales tax to make up the difference lost under the lower sales tax rate. It offers an additional 1.5% local sales tax that cities and counties would have to vote to opt out of.
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