But I’m even less fond of lawmakers who don’t raise taxes when they should simply because it’s an election year.

That’s what happened in Mississippi this year.

It really bugs me. Why can’t our lawmakers worry more about doing the right thing and less about getting re-elected?

Some do. But it’s obvious most don’t or we would have seen some increases during the current legislative session that is due to end Sunday or sooner.

Gov. Ronnie Musgrove threatened, and followed through Wednesday, with his veto of two bills in the $3.6 billion budget. They were bills that, if signed into law, would almost wipe out the state’s rainy-day funds.

One called for spending $77 million on day-to-day operations – a frightening money use idea. The other would allow the state to spend about $71 normally set aside for urgent matters.

Hopefully a compromise will get worked out this week. We’ll see.

One tax increase that no doubt should have been passed was the one to up taxes on cigarettes.

Frankly, I forget how much revenue it would bring in but I recall it was significant … not to mention how many people may have quit given the new higher prices.

Mississippi has one of the highest per capita rates of smokers in the country and just think what it would mean if lots of them quit.

For one thing, it would mean less state taxpayer dollars going to fund Medicaid to pay for health care for those who suffer from smoking-related illnesses.

It should never have come to this point. Some tax increases should have been mixed in with cuts and reasonable savings use.

Because this didn’t happen, the state most likely is going to be in an even bigger financial mess a year from now. And that will mean an even bigger tax increase.