We have recently been regaled by both the President and Governor with reports on the states of their respective domains. They both followed what must be an unwritten rule for such monologues by claiming, “The state of our union/state is strong.” Whether that is true of our union is debatable. It is patently untrue of Mississippi.
To be fair, Mississippi has some very attractive features; lots of nice people and outdoor recreation, a tasty if unhealthy food culture, notable authors and artists of all sorts, and entertaining spectator sports among other appealing attributes. However, Mississippi is at or near the bottom of far too many other, important quality-of-life measures.
Gov. Reeves claimed the state of our state is very strong. His measures of strength rest heavily on the state’s budget surplus, not an accurate measure of a state’s well-being, and a few new infrastructure projects. Those he said are intended to attract new industry. I question spending for new infrastructure in the hope of enticing firms to Mississippi when our existing infrastructure is decaying. By other quality-of-life measures such as citizens’ health and health care, educational attainment, and public safety Mississippi is clearly lacking.
If you want to find Mississippi in rankings of states on many quality-of-life measures, it will save time to start at the bottom. For some measures you won’t have to go up beyond 50th, or 51st when the District of Columbia is included. For example, according to the U.S. News and World Report our health care system is worst among all states and D.C., same for our per capita income; our poverty rate is 50th. Mississippians are more likely to be injured or killed on our highways than in all but one state. We do slightly better (less bad!) in education where we rank 43rd. Despite the Governor touting the budget surplus, Mississippi ranks 41st in U.S. News and World Report’s survey of states’ financial stability. Overall, USN&WR ranks Mississippi 49th, propelled to that “lofty” ranking largely on the strength of our outstanding natural environment, no thanks to any former or present public policies.
Mississippi has been a bottom dweller for a very long time, among the five poorest states for the last 38 years according to the AP. Yet we have been unable or unwilling to elect leaders who seem to care about our poor quality of life. Had our leaders been serious about making Mississippi better, 38 years is long enough for us to have made progress on at least some measures.
In the face of our state’s dismal performance on so many important quality-of-life measures, what is the Governor’s major policy solution for all these shortcomings? Cut taxes and regulations and build some new infrastructure projects. That’s about it. The problem with taxes, which are necessary if we are to have any government at all, is how taxes are designed and implemented. That is, who pays, how much they pay, and what are the unintended effects of the tax code? Any tax system is fraught with all sorts of implementation and ethical concerns about which well-intentioned people may disagree.
At minimum a good tax system should raise sufficient revenue to finance the governmental activities citizens want and do so at low cost. Although Mississippi’s tax code is relatively easy to navigate, it clearly is insufficient considering all those areas in which we are lacking and are at least partly dependent on state government for funding.
I generally oppose an income tax because it taxes value people add to the economy through their productive efforts. Taxing an activity is a sure-fire way to get less of it. For that reason, I agree with the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the income tax. However, he doesn’t suggest how to recoup the lost revenue when we aren’t in good financial shape as it is. In fact, he proposed further cuts in government services.
I would have liked the state of state address better if Governor Reeves had fessed up to our state’s many shortcomings and offered an agenda that held out at least the hope of making better the lives of all Mississippians.
Patrick Taylor lives in Ridgeland.
