As budget and tax-cut bills await Governor Bryant’s signature, a growing, bi-partisan chorus is warning of a looming budget crisis rivaling that seen during the Great Recession – a crisis manufactured by our Legislature through years of corporate tax cuts that the state cannot afford.
Leaders who pushed through the tax cuts defend them as a way to “reduce the size of government,” but they don’t tell you how that reduction in government services will affect taxpayers.
Numerous elected officials and agency heads are sounding the alarm about the services that are on the chopping block if the proposed budget and tax cuts are adopted. One statewide elected official has predicted that “whole systems are going to fail” if the current fiscal situation is not corrected. What services could be cut or drastically reduced? Disaster relief in the wake of tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, or other natural disasters; rural fire protection – the loss of which will cause insurance rates to rise; restaurant inspections; certification of healthcare facilities; water and sewer inspections; repairs to roads and bridges; and, of course, and adequate education for our children. In our schools, superintendents are working to scale back programs, as even more budget cuts are expected if Governor Bryant signs the tax cuts into law.
Please ask Governor Bryant to veto the tax cut bill, SB 2858.
Call his office at 601.359.3150
Reducing the size of government can be a laudable goal, but undisciplined, unrestrained slashing of critical services that our tax dollars are intended to provide threatens the quality of life of those of us left holding the bill. Working families will continue to take on an ever-increasing share of the tax burden while getting less for it, and most major corporations (referred to by conservative senators as “the donor class”) will pay no taxes at all.
In the last week, we have heard from countless Mississippians in both political parties who are fearful that our state is being run into a fiscal ditch, many predicting that it could take a decade to recover. Our children need our voices now more than ever. They will be left to clean up this mess after today’s politicians have come and gone. Please call Governor Bryant (again) today.
