Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Mississippi Business Journal

How fair is the State of Mississippi''s system of taxation? Some taxes may not, in fact, be that fair, but meaningful tax reform is difficult to achieve.

Article Excerpt
How fair is Mississippi's tax system compared to other states? A recent article in Governing magazine grading the states on taxation issues concludes that most state tax systems are unfair.

"They break the golden rule of tax equity: collect the lowest possible rates on the widest possible base of taxpayers," Governing said.

Ed Buelow, chairman of the Mississippi State Tax Commission, said that most studies conclude Mississippi has one of the highest tax rates.

"Most of the studies I have seen say that our state is overtaxed in comparison to our income," Buelow said. "I believe, we are in the top 10 most-taxed states."

Experts interviewed for this article all had their least favorite taxes. In Buelow's case, he thinks the estate tax is one of the least equitable.

"It is unfair because you are taxing someone on something they have already paid taxes on," he said.

Overall Buelow believes Mississippi has a relatively fair tax system across the board.

"I think there is some argument that the poor are overtaxed," Buelow said. "They have to pay a disproportionate amount of their salary in sales tax. But they pay little or no income tax. I think the two wash Out."

People tend to complain a lot about the high cost of car tags in Mississippi. But Buelow points out few people seem to appreciate that taxes on owner-occupied homes and farms are low.

"Other taxes are relatively low compared to other states," he said. "A lot of people say if you didn't have a hefty car tag, people who rent wouldn't be paying property tax at all if they didn't have...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!