For the past five years, we have been told that, even as the economic recovery continues, Mississippians must tighten their belts, even as the Legislature cuts corporate taxes at an unprecedented rate.
Since 2012, the Legislature has passed 51 tax cuts totaling $577 million. In the meantime, the predictable short-fall in revenue has forced Gov. Phil Bryant to cut state agency budgets five times in the past two years by more than $200 million to balance the budget.
On July 1, the largest tax cut — and largest corporate tax cut — started to be implemented, taking another $18 million in general fund money, a deficit that will grow exponentially by the end of that 10-year roll-out, when the tax cuts will cost the state more than $400 million annually, according to economists who studied the plan.
Until now, these cuts have simply been numbers on a page and most Mississippians were quite content to accept the narrative that state agencies are fat, lazy, overstaffed and wasteful.
But we are seeing evidence of just how damaging these tax give-aways can be.
Tuesday, Germain McConnell, executive director for the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science told the Columbus Rotary Club that the school has been absorbing cuts for years now. This year, with another $168,000 cut from its budget, the school eliminated three non-teaching positions to make up for that deficit.
McConnell said if the trend continues next year, the school will have to cut teaching positions, eliminate programs or reduce the number of students it serves.
In justifying cuts to education — particularly K-12 education — state officials have said that “throwing money” at poor performing schools is a waste of taxpayer funds. That the funding system was broken and wasteful.
But no one will make that argument about MSMS, whose students succeed at a level far higher than any other school in our state.
For the better part of three decades, MSMS has stood as a shining light, an example of what our children can achieve when there is a real commitment to education.
We are told that corporate tax cuts are an investment in our future, but the greatest investment in our future is the education of our children.
On every level of education, our leaders continue to fail to honor that commitment.
We are beginning to see the evidence. It is no longer numbers on a page.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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