JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Budget makers in the Mississippi Legislature will have slightly less money available next year than they did this year.
Key members of the House and Senate met Friday and set a revenue forecast of $7.6 billion for the year starting July 1. This is a 1% decrease from this year.
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The estimate is experts’ best guess at how much the state will collect, based on economic trends such as employment rates and consumer spending patterns.
Mississippi House Speaker Jason White (R-West) signals approval to members during floor action on the House floor at the Mississippi State Capitol on Thursday, April 4, 2024 in Jackson, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Lawmakers’ term is scheduled to last four months and end in early May. In the coming weeks, they will decide how much to spend on schools, prisons, health care and other services and finish drafting next year’s budget.
Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Friday that lawmakers will be cautious about funding.
Mississippi is in the process of lowering its personal income tax under a law signed into law in 2022 by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. Governor Reeves said in his budget proposal in February that he wanted to eliminate the tax by 2029, but Governor Hosemann said Friday he had no intention of doing so. We expect to see a move in that direction this year.
“I can’t speak for the House side, but from the Senate side, I don’t think there will be an income tax cut,” Horsman told reporters.
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It’s been several months since state agencies submitted their budget requests for next year. Lawmakers rarely give government agencies all the funding they ask for, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Reed said that’s likely to be the case this Congress.
“I’m going to do the best I can,” said Reed, a Republican from Gautier. “We get requests. It’s impossible to meet 100% of requests, so I tell people to give me a priority list and that’s what I continue to do. We try to help everyone. I am.”
