Mississippi’s House of Representatives has made the first step towards eliminating the state income tax, voting 96-12 in favor of adoption. Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn has been outspoken in his support for the removal of income tax. He says the Mississippi Tax Freedom Act of 2022 would also reduce the grocery tax and price of car tags.
“This puts substantial money back into the pockets of the people. There is no downside to allowing our citizens to keep more of their hard-earned money,” says Gunn. “Bipartisan effort on part of the house, we had Republicans and Democrats who see the value in this coming together, put forward an overwhelming statement that this is something that needs to be done.”
The house also passed a bill that would raise the base pay for teachers in the state. Republican Representative Richard Bennett of Long Beach chairs the House Education Committee. He says the START Act would incentivize teachers to begin their careers in Mississippi.
“So that $6,000 raise will be a tremendous boost to keep those teachers here, and then after that the other teachers, there’s a minimum of $4,000 for all teachers in this pay raise and a $2,000 increase for teacher assistants which is nowhere near enough but I do plan on coming back, addressing that next year and raising that also.”
In the state Senate, lawmakers also passed the congressional redistricting bill which will now be going to the desk of the Governor. Attempts to amend the measure to change the borders of the second district failed.
