Mississippi Today
Governor, legislative leaders deadlock on how much money the state has to spend next year
Recently reelected Gov. Tate Reeves and legislative leaders could not agree Wednesday on an official estimate of how much money will be available as they begin setting next year's state budget.
Reeves said he supports a higher revenue estimate because that would make it easier for legislators to approve his proposal to eliminate state income taxes during the 2024 session.
“For those of us very interested in cutting taxes during this legislative session, arbitrarily lowering the number for no apparent reason hurts our ability to justify those tax cuts,” Reeves told the legislative leaders, including newly reelected Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn. “I am a very strong proponent of cutting taxes during this session. I am going to be regardless of what this number is.”
Normally, the fall meeting of the governor and the 14 members of the Legislative Budget Committee is a routine event and adopting an estimate is pro forma. But such was not the case Wednesday morning as it soon became apparent Reeves was blindsided by his Republican legislative colleagues. They wanted to adopt a revenue estimate $117.8 million less than recommended by the group of five state financial experts whose recommendations are normally rubber-stamped by the politicians.
Reeves said he believed he was attending the meeting to adopt the recommendation of the experts of projected revenue $7.64 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Instead, the committee members approved the lower number, the same estimate as for the current budget year.
“I guess I am kind of caught off guard. I did not anticipate there would be a change,” Reeves said.
Rep. Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia, was the only member of the Budget Committee not to vote for the lower estimate.
Mississippi law mandates that the governor and members of the Legislative Budget Committee agree on a revenue estimate as a starting point in developing a state budget during the upcoming session. In 2002, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and the committee did not agree on an estimate.
It is likely legislators will start work on a budget based on the estimate adopted by the budget committee members Wednesday. And importantly, state law allows committee members to meet at the end of the session to revise the estimate from the fall meeting they have with the governor.
In other words, the impact of Wednesday's deadlock is most likely symbolic, highlighting the focus Reeves plans to place on eliminating the income tax during the 2024 session. In 2022, the Legislature passed a $525 million income tax cut phased in over four years. Reeves wants to fully eliminate the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of the state general fund revenue.
READ MORE: State revenue slows as phase-in of income tax cuts begins
House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who is expected to succeed Gunn as speaker, said he was supporting the lower revenue estimate, but that did not mean that the House would not be working to cut taxes during the 2024 session.
“I think that (cutting taxes) is the aim of most of the people around this table,” White said. “… I anticipate the House will be back with an income tax cut plan sometime in the very near future.”
Reeves told Hosemann he would support the lower estimate if he would say he anticipated the Senate passing an income tax cut during the upcoming session. Hosemann presides over the Senate.
“We anticipate there will be tax relief this year,” Hosemann responded. “Now whether that is grocery tax (sales tax on food) income tax or other taxes, I can't tell you that because … I don't vote. They (senators) all vote. Whether I say it doesn't make much difference.”
Hoseman said the Senate has passed tax cuts in the past and said there is no reason to think that will change going forward.
But he did say the lower estimate should be adopted because revenue for the past two months has been lower than the official estimate approved for the current budget year. If revenue falls too far below the estimate, the governor and-or Legislature would be forced to make cuts or dip into reserve funds to make mid-year adjustments.
State Economist Corey Miller, who is on the group of five state financial experts who provide a consensus estimate to the politicians, testified at the meeting that the anticipation is that the state economy will slow in 2024 and 2025, though, chances of a national recession are low.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301
Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.”
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.
“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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