Vote Tomorrow

No excuses...vote tomorrow. For the people crying out for change over the last two years, tomorrow you have the opportunity to make your voice heard. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. If you're in the metro area, you'll get the opportunity to vote on the following races:

U.S. House, District 4
Palazzo vs. Taylor vs. Hampton vs. Revies

Chancery Judge, Post 1
Jim Thomas vs. any number of write-in candidates

Chancery Judge, Post 2 (replacing retiring Judge Sebe Dale)
Beam vs. Phillips vs. Russell

Circuit Judge, Post 1 (Lamar Co. only)
Mozingo vs. Prichard

Circuit Judge, Post 2 (Lamar Co. only)
Harrell vs. Turney

If you don't know where you're suppose to vote, go to this Web site; Delbert will tell you where.

House Most Wanted List

So yesterday, a colleague of mine emailed this out. It's a list of new taxes the House Democratic leadership is supposedly rolling out for approval next year. To say that the likelihood of any one of these becoming reality is low would be quite the understatement. But for your own musings, here's the list:


Possible Tax Increases proposed by The House Leadership
Total - Approximately $300 million

Beer excise tax increase - $8 million
Alcohol excise tax increase - $9 million
Soft Drink tax - $20 million
Gaming tax increase of 1% - $27 million
Income tax increase - $150 million
Cell phone tax $1 per phone - $23 million
LLC Charge/fee $25 each - $1.5 million
Fee increases on Banks & Check Cashiers - $20 million
Fees & Licenses increases - $10 million

In addition:

Eliminate 2% Sales Tax discount
Eliminate evaporation allowance for petroleum distributors
Revise distribution of Oil & Gas Severance taxes
Revise the Gaming Road Bond Fund
Special fund Agencies – DEQ $11 million
Wildlife $7 million
Marine Resources $1.3 million
(this is general fund monies to these special fund agencies)

October Tax Revenues Coming In Higher Than Expected

This afternoon, we received word from Governor Barbour's office that Mississippi's tax revenues will come in slightly higher than expected. While this is good news, it doesn't diminish the fact that we're heading into the next fiscal years with hundreds of millions of dollars less than we had this year. Here's a statement from Governor Barbour:

“The state’s preliminary revenue collections as of today came in slightly higher than our conservative estimate for the fiscal year.
October revenue was 1.87 percent, or $7.3 million, more than we had anticipated. While I’m pleased to report that we surpassed the estimate, the need to prepare our state for another difficult fiscal year still exists. The economy still is not strong, and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds dictates that we prepare a Fiscal Year 2012 budget recognizing that Mississippians expect their government to prioritize state spending rather than reach deeper into their pockets.”
-Governor Haley R. Barbour

Seeing The Salaries of Government Employees

California just launched a Web site publishing the salaries of all city and county employees. Some county and municipal governments have yet to submit their salary information, which could result in fines from State Controller John Chiang.

This article came to us courtesy of Governing Magazine.

School Nixes Biden Campaign Appearances

Here's an article from The Philadelphia Inquirer about an elementary school in the Radnor School District canceling a campaign event where Vice-President Joe Biden was scheduled to appear for Democratic Congressional hopeful Bryan Lentz. Click here to access the article.

This came to us courtesy of Governing Magazine.

Ag Commissioner Spell Announces He Won't Run Again

Yesterday, Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell (R-Richland) announced he would not seek a fifth term. With that, the speculation now begins on who will run to replace him. Rumors already center on Senator Perry Lee, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Representative Danny Reed.

While it may seem premature to start campaigning for a position over a year before the 2011 general election, many statewide candidates make up their mind to run, form campaign organizations and start raising money years ahead of time. While any open seat in a political office is bound to bring a spirited race, I doubt the race for Mississippi's Ag chief won't be quite as intense (or entertaining) as the 2010 race for Alabama's Agriculture Commissioner. Of course, I reference Republican Dale Peterson's viral YouTube commercial, which launched his campaign into national headlines. Of course, national headlines won't win a local race for you, and Peterson came in a distant third during the 2010 Republican primary.

Either way, jockeying for next year's Ag race will pick up momentum for the remainder of this year.

The Losing Streak Is Over

So for the first time in 18 months, Mississippi has met its revenue projection. Signs looked good a couple of weeks ago when state economist Dr. Phil Pepper noted that we were 15% above 2009's revenue halfway thru March. This was confirmed by the State Tax Commission today when Mississippi met its revenue projection. We're even expected to go .3% above the projection.

Hopefully, this will start a trend and show that we've bottomed out and are coming out of this recession, albeit ever so slowly.