The 2022 legislative session begins today and will last 90 days. Several topics are expected to be addressed early in the session, with a deadline approaching for congressional redistricting maps. There are desires to remove the state income tax, and several plans have been proposed. Governor Tate Reeves spoke with Y’all Politics about his plan to remove the tax without raising others. He said the state is receiving excess revenue and no longer should rely on income tax.
“We recognize that the income tax puts us at a competitive disadvantage when trying to bring better and higher-paying jobs to our state,” Reeves said. “Texas to our west, and Florida to our east, and Tennessee to our north, all three of which have no income tax, we’re at a bit of a competitive disadvantage. And so I think there’s a lot of desire to get this done.”
Governor Reeves, as well as many legislators on either side of the aisle, supports teacher pay raises. Some who oppose the Governor’s plan to eliminate the income tax say it would hinder efforts to raise teacher pay.
Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann said other topics that must be addressed during this session include medical marijuana, the ballot initiative process, and distributing relief funds to municipalities across the state.
“One that worries me most which is the cost of living for Mississippians. The fact that we have inflation and it is eating into our spendable income of everybody that’s driving a car or eating,” said Hosemann. “We’re real concerned about our cost of living and inflation and that may dictate some of our tax policy and some of our expenditure policy.”
Lawmakers will gather at the capitol today to open the session, but are expected to gavel out early to discuss policy.
