A MOST unique new tax proposal

By Staff
Feb.15, 2004
Meridian city officials minus Mayor John Robert Smith who reportedly was in Denver joined a Jackson lobbying effort last Wednesday to convince state legislators to do something many of them said they would not vote to do this year: Raise taxes.
Despite those pre-election pledges, two kinds of new local tax bills are being proposed at the Capitol. One would allow local sales tax or tourism tax increases for specific projects. For example, Jackson wants a new convention center; Hattiesburg wants more funding for its tourism promotion activities; Columbus wants to renew a 2 percent sales tax to generate $1 million for the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Hattiesburg already has one of the state's most beautiful and functional convention centers, the Lake Terrace Convention Center that sits grandly off the intersection of Interstate 59 and Highway 49. Meridian has the Agri-Center.
Another bill is dubbed MOST, the Mississippi Optional Sales Tax. It is being supported by most mayors and county supervisors from across the state. It would allow a 3⁄4 of a cent sales tax increase for capital improvement projects, if approved by at least 60 percent of local voters.
We believe voters need to know a lot more about these proposals before they decide whether to support or oppose them.
It is true that many Mississippi cities are strapped for cash, but it might be argued that the local tax loads are already high enough. It might be argued that local governments should re-assess their spending priorities and practices before diving headlong into a pool of higher sales taxes.
It would be an outright lie to say only visitors would pay all of these increased taxes. Anyone and, yes, that includes residents, who eats in restaurants or shops at the mall could have to pay the increased tax.
To put it simply, while the tax increase sought is small, these are proposals for new and higher taxes. Identifying and then convincing a skeptical electorate of the need for specific projects are redeeming features, but you have to wonder if new taxes are always the solution.
There is some discussion about how these new taxes would be temporary and designed for a specific purpose. Come on, folks, new taxes rarely die; they just become old taxes that the people will be paying for a long, long time.
Such new taxes have to pass tough tests: They must first be approved by at least three-fifths of each house of the Legislature, and then by at least 60 percent of local voters who actually vote in a referendum.
It remains to be seen whether this package of new taxes can be sold to the Legislature or the general public.