Tax cuts.
You’ve heard them touted on the campaign trail, tossed out on the stump like red meat but very rarely if ever do you see them put into practice by our elected leaders.
That’s not the case in Mississippi this year. They have followed through with their promise.
And as such, heads are spinning this morning in the cubicles of state media – namely the Clarion Ledger – and among Democrats as the Republican led Mississippi Legislature has passed a significant tax cut phase-in that eliminates the 3 percent income tax bracket for all Mississippians and the corporate franchise tax while also giving tax relief to small businesses.
The Clarion Ledger used a full front page editorial to beg the Governor to “stop the madness” while also heavily cross promoting Attorney General Jim Hood’s op-ed calling the Legislature ignorant and irresponsible for not heeding his suggestions on where to spend tax dollars instead of cutting taxes.
State Sen. Hob Bryan (D) told Paul Gallo on SuperTalk Tuesday morning that the Clarion Ledger was “dramatically understating” the impact of the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act. Oh, the wailing and “woe is me.”
Just last year, the Clarion Ledger was celebrating Democrats killing a similar tax cut plan.
What a difference a year and an election makes.
The dooms day prophesying is quite something to watch, even a bit comical. It speaks to the willingness of many to continue to feed the machine and grow state bureaucracy.
Be wary when you read media reports or hear Democrats talking of tax cuts as “costing” the state, like it is money that they deserve without considering the source.
It is not unreasonable for government to cut back, require less of taxpayers, and reduce its footprint. Media types and liberals may not like it, and that’s OK. But the notion that shrinking the size of government over time is ignorant and irresponsible comes from a vastly different ideology than shared by most conservatives in this state.
I noted in an article last week that at the very least, as a core conservative principle, legislative Republicans owe taxpayers of all stripes a pay raise this session given their gains at the ballot box and the conservative message voters endorsed.
By strong votes in the House and Senate – and even with a few crossover votes from Democrats – they have done just that. Republicans have kept their word, much to the chagrin of state media pundits and Democrats.
