Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Mississippi

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State Tax & Revenue Information

January 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Below is a list of notable resources for information on state taxes and revenues: Alabama Alabama Department of Revenue Alabama Department of Finance – Executive Budget Office Alabama Department of Revenue – Tax Incentives for Industry Alabama Legislative Fiscal Office Alaska Alaska Department of Revenue – Tax Division Alaska Office of Management & Budget Alaska […]

UPDATE: After this post was published, Amazon announced that it will begin collecting sales tax in Oklahoma on March 1. This post has been updated to reflect this development. The nation’s largest Internet retailer has made an about-face on its sales tax policy, making consumers’ ability to evade sales tax on online purchases a little […]

Chattanooga Times Free-Press: Tennessee House GOP pursues anything-but-gas-tax-increase plans for road funding

January 26, 2017

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, five states have not implemented an increase in their gas tax rates since the 1980s or earlier: Alaska, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. That’s longer than any of the 45 other states. Read more

This week we continue to track revenue shortfalls, governors’ budget proposals, and other tax news around the country, finding most proposals to be focused on slashing taxes and reducing public investments despite public opinion and economic research showing the benefits of well-funded state services and progressive tax policies. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, […]

Many state governments are struggling to repair and expand their transportation infrastructure because they are attempting to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with fixed-rate gasoline taxes that are rarely increased. The chart accompanying this brief shows (as of January 1, 2017) the number of years that have elapsed since each state's gas tax was last increased.

This week brings still more states looking for solutions to revenue shortfalls, multiple governors’ State of The State addresses, important reading on counter-transparency and local-preemption efforts, and more.  — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe A Nebraska legislator this week diagnosed the state’s $900 million revenue shortfall in plain terms, describing it as “self-inflicted […]

This week we bring you updates on major revenue shortfalls looming in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, as well as gas tax changes taking effect in some states and being debated in others. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe Oklahoma lawmakers are weighing options to close the state’s $870 million shortfall. Up for discussion are […]

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State Tax Preferences for Elderly Taxpayers

November 28, 2016 • By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe

State governments provide a wide array of tax breaks for their elderly residents. Almost every state that levies an income tax allows some form of income tax exemption or credit for citizens over age 65 that is unavailable to non-elderly taxpayers. Most states also provide special property tax breaks to the elderly. Unfortunately, too many of these breaks are poorly-targeted, unsustainable, and unfair. This policy brief surveys federal and state approaches to reducing taxes for older adults and suggests options for designing less costly and better targeted tax breaks.

WTOK News Center: Mississippi tax code getting scrutiny

October 14, 2016

“But check out a chart from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It’s all about state and local taxes. On one end is the lowest income families in the state. The wealthiest are at the other. The less you make, the bigger percentage of your income that’s going to taxes.” Read more

DJournal: Mississippi’s poor pay more in taxes

October 13, 2016

“‘The state’s low- and middle-income earners paid nearly double the percentage of their income in taxes compared to the state’s highest income families,’ Donovan wrote in a report compiled for the legislators, basing her findings on a 2015 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy.”

The Jackson Clarion Ledger

August 5, 2016

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy lists Mississippi’s taxes as 21st for “most unfair” or regressive, with people’s incomes less equal after state and local taxation. This is largely because of the state’s reliance on sales taxes and it being one of only two states that levies its full sales tax on groceries with […]

USA Today: These states will hike gas taxes ahead of record 4th of July travel

June 30, 2016

“Despite the fluctuations, most states have also gone years without changing their rates, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Sixteen states have gone at least two decades without a gas-tax increase, according to the study. Five of those states have seen an increase since at least the 1980s: Alaska, […]

An updated version of this report has been published with data through July 1, 2017. Read this Policy Brief in PDF form Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely […]

Forbes: Is The Best Tax Cut Of The Year Out Of Mississippi?

June 3, 2016

“The tax cutting in Mississippi didn’t stop with the franchise tax. The measure signed by the governor also significantly reduced personal income taxes. Basically, the state will exempt the first $10,000 of earnings from income tax. This will, as my friends at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) point out, skew the benefits […]

The Clarion Ledger: Bryant signs largest tax cut in Mississippi history

May 16, 2016

“Like most other proposed income tax cuts, benefits from the Mississippi plan would flow most to high-earning households. Projections from the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy show the lowest-earning 20 percent of taxpayers, making $16,000 or less, would save an average of $14 a year. Those earning in the top 95 percent to […]

Hope Policy Institute: Who Really Benefits: Why Large Tax Cuts Don’t Benefit Working Families and Communities

May 5, 2016

“Large tax reductions proposed at a time when Mississippi already is cutting important public investments due to a lack of revenue would erode the state’s ability to create jobs and have a competitive economy. Over the past two years major tax cut proposals have been proposed that would cut and flatten the state’s income tax […]

The Commercial Appeal: Mississippi tax cut deal: $415 million in cuts over 12 years

April 19, 2016

“Like most other proposed income tax cuts, benefits would flow most to high-earning households. Projections from the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy show the lowest-earning 20 percent of taxpayers, making $16,000 or less, would save an average of $14 a year. Those earning in the top 95 percent to 99 percent of households, […]

Sun Herald: Reeves, senators renew push for $575 million in tax cuts

March 15, 2016

“Like most other proposed income tax cuts, benefits would flow most to high-earning households. Projections from the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for last year’s proposal showed the lowest-earning 20 percent of taxpayers, making $16,000 or less, would save an average of $13 a year. Those earning in the top 95 percent to […]

USA Today: Study: 58,000 U.S. bridges found to be ‘structurally deficient’

February 22, 2016

“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy counts nine states seriously considering motor fuel tax increases: Alabama, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, and South Carolina. “Most of the gas tax increases under discussion right now would help restore at least some of the purchasing power they lost while being frozen in time […]

Tulsa World: Julie DelCour: Measuring Up: ‘DOTs’ hope for a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment

February 22, 2016

“Last year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that 20 states have gone a decade or more without an increase in their gasoline tax rate; 15 states had gone two decades or more. And five states, including Oklahoma, had not seen an increase in their gasoline tax rate since the 1980s or earlier. […]

The Sun Herald: PAUL HAMPTON: Where the rubber meets the yellow brick road

February 8, 2016

  The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan think tank, did a study that wrapped up in 2013 when it was presented to the National Council of State Legislatures. The short version: — Incentives are rarely the deciding factor — The money from the incentives won’t all stay in the state — Incentives […]

Many states' transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely increased. A growing number of states have recognized the problem with this approach and have switched to a "variable-rate" gas tax under which the tax rate tends to rise over time alongside either inflation or gas prices. A majority of Americans live in a state where the gas tax is automatically adjusted in this way.

Clarion Ledger: ‘Tax shift’ for roads: Will it favor rich?

December 22, 2015

“Income tax reductions also fall unevenly, because many low-income households pay little or no income taxes. A plan to phase out income taxes on incomes under $18,300 proposed last year would have been more beneficial to the highest earning households. The lowest-earning 20 percent of taxpayers, making $16,000 or less, would have saved an average […]

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State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools

September 17, 2015 • By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe

The U.S. Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2014, the national poverty rate was 14.8 percent - statistically unchanged from the previous year. However, the poverty rate remains 2.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2007, before the Great Recession, indicating that recent economic gains have not yet reached all households and that there is much room for improvement. The 2014 measure translates to more than 46.7 million - more than 1 in 7 - Americans living in poverty. Most state poverty rates also held steady between…

NBC: Sales Tax Holidays Complex, Controversial, But Popular With Shoppers

July 28, 2015

Research by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy contends that increased sales during the tax holidays “have been shown to be primarily the result of consumers’ shifting the timing of their planned purchases.” That organization estimates sales tax holidays will cost states $300 million in 2015. “A two- to three-day sales tax holiday […]