The Hattiesburg American Editorial, 12/1/8
Gov. Haley Barbour’s proposed budget for the state’s spending year starting July 1 is advisory. He knows that. The power to tax and spend in Mississippi rests exclusively with the Legislature, which is expected to release the Joint Legislative Budget Committee recommendations in December. The budget won’t be final until lawmakers, who start their regular session Jan. 6, go home in April – if then. Remember, lawmakers actually adjourned two years ago without completing this responsibility.
Barbour’s budget, however, is remarkable, in that the Republican governor in his sixth year proposes his first tax increase, at least the first “enhancement” he’s been willing to call a tax increase.
It’s modest. It would raise Mississippi’s 18 cents-per-pack excise tax to 42 cents for major brands and 61 cents for off-brands. Barbour’s reason for the differentiation, which would be hard to implement, is that big-name makers already are paying the state $100 million per year as a result of the damage suit settled in 1997 by then-Attorney General Mike Moore. The off-brands aren’t chipping into the settlement pool, so their taxes would rise more.
Magnolia Tribune
