Jackson Free Press

Mississippi's Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant yesterday announced the creation of a special legislative committee to study the cost of car tags in the state. The proposed committee will contain three members from each chamber, and "be responsible for providing reliable data with a reasonable solution to the high price of car tags," and make recommendations for legislative action, according to a release.

"I believe enough is enough," Bryant said in the release. "We have got to come together as Republicans and Democrats, to help offset the skyrocketing costs of car tags. I am asking the Speaker to join me in forming a select committee to look at why car tags are so high in Mississippi. In these tough economic times, it should not be business as usual in the Capitol. The people of Mississippi demand action, and they demand it now."

Bryant mentioned in the release that the Senate Finance Committee has proposed using revenue from an increase in cigarette taxes to offset falling tax revenue from car sales, which the legislature has used to provide discounts to Mississippi drivers for their annual car tag fees.

In March, Kathy Waterbury, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Tax Commission, said the car tag fund was bankrupt, and owed counties more than $7 million. House and Senate conferees are hearing testimony from Tax Commission officials today.

The Mississippi Legislature will reconvene on May 6, according to Bryant's office, to work on the budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Car tags and the highly divisive increase for cigarette taxes are on the extended legislative agenda.

The House and Senate have been unable to compromise on a cigarette tax increase with a 20 cent divide between them when negotiations ended last month. The Senate offered a 60 cent increase and the House stood firm on 80 cents per pack.

Another perennial issue that Legislators will need to address is funding for Medicaid. Lawmakers also need to understand how funds from the federal stimulus package will affect the budget.

Gov. Haley Barbour met with top legislators last week to discuss the budget. Barbour reportedly provided them with his revised version of the budget based on an as-yet-to-be-passed tax on hospital beds to fund Medicaid and a 60 cent per pack cigarette tax.

Previous Comments

ID

146136

Comment

baquan, don't get too excited by all this. The state tax commission has already recommended lowering the discount (thus raising the cost of your tags), and that's the way it will go unless the legislation can come up with another way to add money to the bankrupt fund. We'll see whether Bryant's committee gets formed or has any effect on the outcome. The timing seems awfully convenient given that he could have done something a month ago when the tax commission said the fund was broke. Just sayin'...

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-04-21T16:30:07-06:00

ID

146138

Comment

I hope this won't be a case of doing a study and not doing anything with the results. I'm glad there will be a study, but I want to see some action. Most of all, I hope that this study is on the up and up and not a way to justify high car tag costs.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2009-04-21T19:53:51-06:00

ID

146149

Comment

Ooh! I'd like a government job with little work and no chance of affecting the policy of the State of Mississippi! Nice try, but the reason they're high, Oh Dear Lt. Gov., is that the Great State of MS can't and doesn't have enough money coming in from elsewhere.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-04-21T21:49:45-06:00

ID

146150

Comment

Ya'll don't get your hopes up, they have been saying they were going to do something about the high cost of our car tags for 30yrs and nothing ever happens.

Author

BubbaT

Date

2009-04-21T23:20:28-06:00

ID

146161

Comment

Good idea. http://www.governorbarbour.com/taxstudycommission.htm

Author

Curley

Date

2009-04-22T08:41:13-06:00