JACKSON, Miss– The bill to phase out the state income tax over a period of 15 years needed 72 votes to pass, and only got 62.Over 2 hours of debate. Questions raised over the ability to afford a tax cut and yet not fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. Heated arguments, and even Representative Cecil Brown getting exasperated and suggesting a sarcastic fifty percent cut on all state income tax, saying “we’d all get rich. You’d vote for that wouldn’t ya!”
That’s the picture of the House floor on Tuesday afternoon. MAEP, the other part of the debate, is not fully funded, but was granted an additional $110 million dollars, which is a record-breaker for education grades k-12.
The phase out plan was based on a three percent revenue increase for that fiscal year. If revenue wasn’t increased by three percent, the cut would not take place that year.
The bill failed to pass in the house, which means it has no chance of becoming law this year.
