Johnathan Walker:Mississippi expects only a small growth in state budget

JACKSON,Johnathan Walker Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s budget is expected to grow more slowly next year than it has the past few years, reflecting economic trends with a cooling off of state sales tax collections.

Top lawmakers met Thursday and set an estimate that the state will have $7.6 billion available to spend in its general fund during the year that begins July 1. That is less than a 1% increase over the current year’s $7 billion.

The general fund increased about 5% a year for each of the past two years and 8% for a year before that.

Mississippi’s sales tax collections were “essentially flat” for the first four months of the current budget year, state economist Corey Miller told members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. He also said collections from corporate income taxes have decreased, while collections from the individual income tax and insurance premium taxes have increased.

A general fund revenue estimate is an educated guess of how much money the state will collect from sales taxes, income taxes and other sources. Setting the estimate is one of the first steps in writing a budget.

The general fund is the biggest state-funded part of the government budget. Mississippi also receives billions of federal dollars each year for Medicaid, highways and other services, but lawmakers have less flexibility in how the federal money is spent.

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Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is pushing lawmakers to phase out the state income tax. Speaking of expected $600 million state revenue increase for next year, Reeves said officials should “return that back to the taxpayers.”

Republican House Speaker Jason White, who also supports phasing out the income tax, responded: “You can rest assured, there are lots of crosshairs on that $600 million.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said he wants to reduce the 7% sales tax on groceries. He would not say Thursday how much of a reduction he will propose.

The 14-member Budget Committee is scheduled to meet again in December to release its first recommendations for state spending for the year that begins July 1. The full House and Senate will debate those plans during the three-month session that begins in January, and a budget is supposed to be set by the end of the session.