Three days ago, it appeared as if lawmakers in Mississippi were speeding down the fast lane en route to an impasse on tax reform. However, ahead of a Tuesday deadline, a U-turn of sorts was executed Monday by both the House of Representatives and Senate revealing amended yet similar versions of the opposite chamber’s tax cut plans.
Circling back to Friday’s series of events, Republican House Speaker Jason White took to social media with a scathing rebuke of his cross-chamber counterparts failing to pass a bill to fully eliminate the state’s income tax. Early in the session, the House passed HB 1, or the “Build Up Mississippi Act,” to phase the tax on work out over the next 12 years. The Senate, on the other hand, initially passed a tax cut of its own but one that stopped shy of full elimination.
“After the House passed this transformational piece of legislation and set the stage for the legislature to work together to eliminate the income tax, the Senate produced a modest tax cut that does not lead to full elimination,” White wrote, taking a shot at Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. “We were elected by a conservative supermajority to enact conservative policies.”
Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, fired back by hammering White and various House committees for inaction on Senate bills that systemically addressed ways to shore up what economists say is a $25 billion unfunded liability – the public employees’ retirement system. Hosemann questioned whether the House was even willing to take meaningful steps to tackle the lingering PERS issues.
“True leadership is addressing the state’s $25 billion debt to pay our employees and retirees their promised PERS benefits, which the Speaker has killed and continues to ignore,” Hosemann responded on social media. “The Senate is committed to fixing PERS. Is the House?”
Countering Hosemann’s assertion that the House is not taking state employees’ retirement portfolios seriously, White pointed to a measure in his chamber’s tax reform proposal that directly addresses PERS. In the pre-amended version of HB 1, annual proceeds of $100 million from the lottery would. Have
Read original article by clicking here.