Gov. Haley Barbour’s tax study commission met for the first time this week as Barbour charged its members to focus on tax strategies that favor economic development.
The commission, chaired by former Mississippi Development Authority director Leland Speed, is charged with recommending comprehensive new tax strategies by the end of August.
Barbour’s charge is appropriate, but economic development should not be the lone goal of meaningful tax reform. Tax equity should also be addressed.
Mississippi relies on the general sales tax and a series of other selective sales taxes driven by the purchases or consumption of alcohol, amusements, insurance premiums, motor fuels, utilities, tobacco and other selective sales for some 65 percent of the state’s revenue.
Magnolia Tribune
