Most everyone at House Speaker Jason White’s tax summit said they support cutting taxes – even eliminating the personal income tax — but there were concerns expressed by many on whether that goal could be accomplished without negatively impacting vital state services.
White’s chair of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, told the crowd gathered at a Flowood hotel Tuesday for the daylong summit that the upcoming 2025 legislative session is the time to begin the process of phasing out the income tax.
“I believe it is time to make really big transformative changes in our tax system,” Lamar said.
He said eliminating the income tax would make the state more competitive.
On the other hand, Sen. Jeremy England, R-Ocean Springs, said he also supported tax cuts, but said “baby steps” might be needed to ensure funds are available to pay for state services.
Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, the chair of the Senate’s tax writing Finance Committee, cautioned that time might be needed to see the results of previous massive tax cuts passed in 2022 and in 2016 that are still being phased in. Plus, Harkins pointed out that the state and its citizens received about $33 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that have artificially bolstered state revenue. He said time might be needed to look at the financial condition of the state’s after the impact of those COVID-19 funds had faded.