JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – House Speaker Jason White (R-Miss.) has his eyes set on tax reform for the 2025 Legislative Session, revisiting everything from grocery taxes to personal income taxes.
The first-term speaker said he’s prepared to spend the majority of the Legislative off-season on the matter. He hopes to lower the gas tax, cut the nation’s highest tax on groceries by at least half, and maybe fully eliminate the state income tax.
“Between eliminating the personal income tax, cutting the grocery tax in half, we would probably, of course, have to look at sales tax, the way we divert it to cities. The gas tax, we collect like ten and a half cents on a gallon. Is there room there? You know what Mississippi taxpayers and drivers on our roads and bridges want to do there. So, you’re going to see a lot of discussion. We’ll have hearings. I’m going to appoint a select committee on that issue on tax reform in Mississippi,” White said.
Medicaid expansion could still be on the table. Lawmakers came close to expanding Medicaid this year for working Mississippians making up to 138% of the federal poverty level. That’s a little more than $20,000 annually.
The question remains as to where negotiations could start next year, if at all.
“I hadn’t really had a lot of time to sit down and think about our exact path forward on Medicaid. The last conference report that was actually filed, that we recommitted. You know, I would hope that would at least be the starting place. You know, getting 138%, even with a work requirement. Even if you’re not compassionate about covering people with health care coverage under Medicaid, I still think even if you’re not there for a compassionate reason, you should be there because it makes sense monetarily for our state, both in our health metrics and in our health care economy,” stated White.
More education legislation is on the horizon. Lawmakers passed a bill that replaces the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) funding formula this year. The focused for 2025 will be on school choice legislation, as well as a school vouchers program.