On Thursday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant announced he has been forced to slash budgets for most state agencies by roughly $51 million. In other shocking developments Thursday, the sun rose in the east and a dog tried to bite a postman.
In other words, Bryant’s budget-slashing is becoming a fairly predictable event.
If you are keeping score, our ashen-faced governor has emerged from his office in Jackson to announce big cuts to the state budget four times in the past calendar year alone.
The running total now stands at $221 million. Stay tuned. Another $101 million in deficits are projected between now and the end of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
Like a 2-year-old who repeatedly jams a fork into electrical outlet, Bryant always makes these announcements as if he is shocked. Who could have predicted such a thing, right?
Well, anybody with enough sense to come in out of the rain, that’s who.
It’s a pretty simple equation, after all. In any budget, there are two primary components: income and expenses.
A wise person wants to make sure he doesn’t live beyond his means, of course. Yet basic necessities are not luxuries and the person who is unable to sustain himself, will naturally look to the other component – income. He might take a second job, or enroll in night classes in order to secure a better-paying job.
What he would NOT do is decide is reduce his income. He would not go to his boss and suggest a pay cut or a reduction in work hours. No, he would ask for overtime or maybe a raise.
Unless, of course, you’re the governor or a member of the GOP-dominated Legislature.
Since 2012, the Legislature has gone on drunken orgy of corporate tax give-aways. Last year, the Legislature passed the largest corporate tax cut in Mississippi history – more than $270 million – during a fiscal year in which the governor cut taxes on two separate occasions to the tune of $110 million.
It is irresponsible. It is unforgivable. It is madness.
Our state is long past the “fat-cutting” stage. State agencies have lost almost 2,000 jobs in the past calendar year. More job cuts are on the way. You can count on it.
Putting people out of work seems to be the preferred strategy. That means the basic levels of state services the people of the state should expect from their government are in peril. Higher education will lose $103 million due to Tuesday’s budget-slashing. Community colleges will lose $3.8 million. Prisons will lose $4.7 million.
In a state where the tax burden is already among the lowest in the nation, the idea that the solution is to cut taxes even more is beyond ludicrous. If companies aren’t lining up to take advantage of that low tax burden now, the idea that reducing taxes even more is a dubious strategy.
We are paying dearly for this grand, unproven experiment in state budgeting. One example: Our roads and bridges are falling apart. It’s estimated that the state will need to spend $3.5 billion to put them in decent working order.
That didn’t happen overnight, of course. Somebody hasn’t been paying the freight to keep those roads and bridges in good working order for years now.
Guess what? That somebody isn’t you or me or any other working stiff.
We certainly haven’t been on the “gettin’ end” of those 40 tax cuts over the past five years.
But you can bet we’ll be on the “givin’ end” by the time this year’s legislative session ends.
The grim reality is that the Legislature will have to increase taxes between now an April, when the session ends.
And unless your last name ends with “Corp,” you’re going to get stuck with the tax increase.
Don’t be surprised.
The sun continues to rise in the east.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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