Geoff Pender

The Clarion-Ledger

The panel is accepting public comments at mstaxpolicy@ls.ms.gov.

The second meeting of a joint legislative committee looking to reform Mississippi tax laws was strikingly similar to the first one a month ago: It consisted mainly of a long presentation from the conservative Tax Foundation.

And the state’s Republican legislative leaders appear to have plotted the general course for tax reform even before the committee got rolling: shifting the state’s tax burden even more from corporate and individual income to “user-based” taxes such as sales taxes. It remains unclear whether that would include increasing tax revenue overall for road work, education or other needs for which numerous groups are lobbying.

“Nicole … can you get us some models (of tax reform) together that we can look at?” House Speaker Philip Gunn asked the Tax Foundation’s Nicole Kaeding, after lawmakers on the committee gave her a round of applause following her nearly two-hour presentation, as they did in September.

Kaeding has twice told the special tax reform committee that her D.C.-based think tank believes corporate taxes are most stifling to growth, while taxing consumption provides incentives to save, with property taxes being least harmful to growth.

Kaeding’s recommendations to-date have included removing sales tax exemptions from purchases such as gasoline, prescriptions, legal fees, financial services, accounting, medical services, fitness, barbers, veterinarians and newspapers. Alternatively, she said, the state should consider halting sales taxation of “input” such as farm and office equipment, manufacturing machinery and business fuel, utilities and leases.

“Because you are taxing the machines that make the widgets, the widgets cost more,” Kaeding said. “Inputs should not be taxed. Tax the final output.”

Can politics be avoided in tax-reform work?

Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have said Kaeding and the Tax Foundation appear to have validated tax decisions made by the GOP legislative leadership over the last five years — including more than 40 corporate tax cuts. The state going on two years has been in a financial crunch, with the governor and lawmakers having to slash state budgets because of revenue shortfall. But Republican leaders say the economy, not their tax cuts, are to blame.

RELATED: MS tax cuts: What do we really know about them?

But Sen. Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, among the Democratic minority on the special tax committee, on Monday told Kaeding: “I also want to hear from someone who thinks a little different from you … I’d like for this committee to take a close look at the true needs in this state as far as revenue.”

Laura Hipp, spokeswoman for Reeves, on Monday said the panel is accepting public comments at mstaxpolicy@ls.ms.gov, and “would like to hear from others.”

“However, I wouldn’t expect them to grant a public forum to a liberal Washington, D.C., think tank that wants to raise income taxes across the board because that’s not what Mississippi families want and need.”

Gunn said, "We are open to input from all sides of the table. It's important to remember, however, that Mississippi is one of the most conservative states in the nation. We have been elected by a majority of conservative voters."

Sara Miller, with the more liberal leaning Hope Policy Institute, recently said: “When you think about what’s holding Mississippi back as a state, it’s not that we are a high-tax state. We heard from the Tax Foundation … that Mississippi is in the top 10 among states for its low percentage of income paid in state and local taxes. However, we also know that Mississippi consistently ranks at the bottom in many quality-of-life indicators … Cutting taxes and/or shifting the burden to working families will jeopardize the state’s ability to make progress in producing a healthy, well-trained and skilled workforce.”

While the Tax Foundation and other groups have given Mississippi high marks for its relatively low corporate and individual income taxes, others have argued that Mississippi’s taxes are “regressive” and place more of a burden on the poor and those of modest income than the wealthy and corporations.

Gunn on Monday reiterated a statement he made at last month’s hearing, that “corporations don’t have wealth” — they just pass on any tax increase to consumers.

And Reeves reiterated his goal for the special tax committee and state tax policy: “My goal is to make Mississippi the most attractive place in America to invest capital and create jobs … We can both cut taxes and grow revenue … We want more taxpayers, not more taxes on those already shouldering their fair share.”

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.

Lawmakers are talking about talking about road funding