Mississippi State Finance Committee Chairman Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, in the Senate chamber at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
- “I think people can have similar goals but have different paths to get there,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Josh Harkins said Thursday.
The Mississippi Senate is methodically working on its version of tax reform legislation.
Bill writers in the upper chamber are unlikely to hastily roll out their plan despite the push from their colleagues across the Capitol who passed what House leadership called “the most significant tax cut bill in Mississippi history.”
The Senate Finance Committee is “working on it and will have it before the deadline or sooner, hopefully sooner,” Chairman Josh Harkins told Magnolia Tribune this week.
February 24 is the deadline for drafting appropriation and revenue bills.
Senator Harkins previously said at the start of the legislative season that the Senate was expected to release its own tax cut plan within two weeks.
Previews from the Lt. Governor’s office included a plan to reduce Mississippi’s income tax from 4 percent to 3 percent by 2030 and to immediately reduce the sales tax on groceries to 5 percent.
The House Bill, known as the “Build Up Mississippi Act,” calls for a $1.1 billion tax cut, where the income tax is fully phased out over 10 years. The legislation cuts the income tax bracket from 4 percent to 3 percent in 2027, a year after the current income tax cut from 2022 is fully phased-in. When fully enacted, the bill reduces the sales tax on groceries from 7 percent to 2.5 percent by 2036. It also places a 5 percent sales tax on gas and redirects $100 million of lottery revenue to stabilize PERS, the state employee retirement system.
READ MORE: Mississippi House passes ‘Build Up Mississippi Act’
The Senate chairman appeared Thursday on SuperTalk MidDay radio show to discuss the state’s tax policy.
While not going into specifics of a proposed Senate bill, Senator Harkins said that philosophically, he would like to see the elimination of the income tax, the cornerstone of the House’s HB 1 which passed in a bipartisan vote of 88-24.
“I think people can have similar goals but have different paths to get there,” Harkins said of the Senate’s efforts along the same lines.
Senator Harkins said Mississippi has seen a number of tax cuts in the last decade, from franchise taxes to a reduction in the income tax. He explained that his Senate committee would like to continue those cuts while exploring their impact on the state’s fiscal stability over the next two decades.
“When we look at tax cuts, we look at ways to give a bit more back to where the burden isn’t on the people,” Harkins said, noting that the state budget is fiscally conservative.
Until a bill is unveiled, the Senate Finance Committee will “study [tax cuts] hard to make sure we are doing it in a prudent, responsible manner,” Harkins said, adding that “the last thing we want to do is come back and upend everything because we took off too much or we didn’t think about certain situations.”
Daniel Tyson
