State Sen. David Blount, of Jackson, delivered the Democrat response to Wednesday’s State of the State address.
Below is a transcript provided by the Mississippi Democratic Party. To watch the Democratic response in its entirety, scroll to the bottom of the article.
My name is David Blount and I represent District 29 in the Mississippi State Senate. That includes part of Jackson and the Byram/Terry area of South Hinds County. I serve as Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus and I’m here to give the Democratic response to the Governor’s State of State address.
As Democrats, we want to talk to you about a few big issues. Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent we’re asking you to consider these ideas for yourself. If you agree with us call your elected officials in Jackson and tell them what you think.
The first issue is more tax cuts.
In the past few years, Mississippi has cut more than one billion dollars in annual taxes. Now the Governor and House Republicans want to abolish the state income tax. We believe this is irresponsible.
The income tax pays for one-third of the overall general fund budget: More than $2 billion a year. Republicans haven’t said how they would make up this amount or what they would cut.
We all know that our state’s economy (like the economy of every state) has seen an unprecedented windfall of federal money in recent years. This was during COVID and the Biden administration. That money is gone and it’s not coming back. Mississippi will soon be back where we’ve always been, having to do more with less. The last two Republican Governors each were forced to make mid-year budget cuts twice because revenues weren’t meeting projections. Now state revenues today are down almost three percent from where they were last year.
In Jackson, Democrats and Republicans balance the budget. This isn’t Washington DC where they cut taxes and increase spending.
Moving from income taxes to sales taxes does one simple thing: It shifts the burden of funding government from people with
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