Taxes shifted not same as taxes saved — bait and switch

Though Representative Jay Hughes’ District 12 lies in Lafayette County, I have increasingly come to look forward to his missives as the one of the few voices questioning the policies and actions of the super-majority that controls the Mississippi Legislature. The tone of Hughes’ message suggests that he is more concerned about telling it like it is than his re-election, and with his frank criticisms he has certainly doomed any chance of ascending the committee hierarchy in the legislature. How refreshing!
Today’s column published on this page discusses, as most of Hughes’ do, public education. I don’t know whether Hughes is on target with all of his predictions, but he is on target in identifying the bait-and-switch tactics that the super-majority uses to keep Mississippians from realizing that the impact of the corporate tax cuts of the 2016 session.
Lower state tax collections have now forced the governor to cut agencies’ budgets three times. Budgeting during this 2017 Legislative Session will force most agencies to further reduce services to citizens. The reductions in state personnel and services will force cities and counties to provide what the state has cut. The Mississippi Highway Patrol is probably the most high profile example.
Retirements and attrition from MHP have drastically reduced available personnel with no plan in place to mint new troopers. On I-55, cruising speeds are often at 90 miles per hour for most motorists and a law-abiding stickler for the posted 70 miles-per-hour limit is in considerable danger of being rear-ended.
The Batesville Police Department, under a directive from MHP based on a 1972 law, has assumed primary responsibility for traffic control and accident investigation along the portion of I-55 in city limits. Outside city limits on state and federal highways, sheriff deputies usually control an accident scene while awaiting the arrival of an MHP trooper to investigate. At one accident recently on Highway 6 West, the nearest trooper was in Tutwiler when he got the message to respond to Batesville. And so on. MHP shortages attract more attention, but it is the same story with most state agencies and people seeking their services.
Here’s the rub: if you are going to reduce state agency budgets and force local cities, counties and school boards to make up the difference by raising their taxes, don’t go waltzing into the next election crowing about how you cut taxes and saved us money. You did not. You merely shifted the burden, but ultimately it is still coming from taxpayers’ pockets.
That is the problem with a super-majority. When power is shared between parties, it creates a balance that is lacking when one party controls absolutely. Any party is capable of excess, and the party now in power has become sufficiently entrenched to make one wonder whether balance will ever return.