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Mississippi seems to be doing rather well. Our economy is growing, and according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Mississippi was one of the fastest growing states in the last quarter of 2024. Personal incomes are rising faster than inflation.
Our state is heading in the right direction because we’ve got some key policies right. Taxes, notably the state income tax, have been lowered, with eventual income tax elimination in sight. Rules on occupational licensing have been reformed, making our labor market more flexible.
Our state government has (by and large) kept public spending under control, meaning we have a budget surplus. We don’t yet have meaningful school choice. But every child in the public school system does now have a personalized budget, making it harder for the education bureaucracy to squander resources and easier for the dollars to follow the child.
Every one of these wins was achieved because a handful of people were prepared to put their neck on the line and fight for it. Each time they were opposed by vested interests and, frankly, by the go-along-to-get-along apathy of some who ought to have known better.
We’re only on the road to income tax elimination because principled conservatives were bold. Previous Speaker Philip Gunn overcame opposition to lower income tax to a flat 4 percent. Current Speaker Jason White outmaneuvered the forces of inertia facing him to secure legislation that will mean eventual elimination. Governor Tate Reeves made the case for it consistently.
At every stage, the Governor and two Speakers were attacked for their stance, notably in various leftist-sponsored media outlets. Sometimes by those that now claim credit for the tax cut. Mississippi’s legislature has just passed one of the most conservative budgets in years only because the House leadership refused to do business-as-usual. They insisted on a proper budget setting process – and if you remember, were repeatedly lambasted for it.
Efforts to ensure every child has a personalized education budget were often fiercely resisted by folk that now claim it was their idea all along. That’s politics, you might say. And it’s how change happens. A new consensus comes about not because everyone gets together for kumbaya, but because good ideas take on and defeat the bad.
Mississippi is on the up, but there are so many more reforms we need to ensure we’re no longer 50th out of 50. We are now surrounded by states that have school choice. Red tape in our state is restricting growth. Despite an impressive recent improvement, far too many working age adults in our state aren’t working.
It’s not naïve optimism that will deliver school choice or red tape reduction, but robust, unflinching advocacy. It’s time to turn up the volume.
Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
MageeNews.com is the online news source for Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the state of Mississippi
