The three men who run this state — Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Phillip Gunn — are guided by a philosophy as Mississippi’s economy goes careening down the road to economic ruin.
The trio — let’s call it The Notorious B.R.G. For the sake of brevity — says that Mississippi must “live within its means” and when times are tough the state must “tighten its belt.”
But slowly, Mississippians are beginning to realize our “means” aren’t paying the bills and the belt The Notorious B.R.G. wants to tighten is placed snugly around our necks.
Meanwhile, The Notorious B.R.G. has provided more than $1.3 billion in corporate tax cuts/incentives since they assumed power in 2011. Corporations have elastic belts, apparently.
But for a lot regular taxpayers, the belt got tighter Thursday.
The state’s eight public universities announced tuition increases for next fall, ranging from 5 percent (Jackson State) to 9.1 percent (MUW) after the Legislature, in its infinite wisdom, yet again slashed funding for universities, this year by about 12 percent.
This fall, when parents sign checks to pay for tuition, they’ll be paying, on average, an additional $463.
The Notorious B.R.G. is decidedly not acting in the best interests of the citizens.
In a state rife with poverty these three continue to neglect one of the most effective methods to eliminate that condition.
It is those poor students, subject to the mantra that says they must pull themselves up by the bootstraps, these tuition increases will most affect. For them, it means even more student debt, a burden that will follow them long after they have earned their degree.
With each corporate tax cut and the corresponding cuts to the budgets of state agencies we rely on for essential services — five cuts totaling more than $230 million the past year-and-a-half alone — the state finds itself falling into an economic sinkhole even as the national economy continues to grow.
The Notorious B.R.G. has rejected every means of increasing revenue, even reasonable ones. It goes against their “philosophy.”
So, when you sit down this fall to write that tuition check, comfort yourself by remembering that extra $463 goes to a worthy cause — providing tax cuts to corporations who are not required to pay their fair share.
There is no magic to the math of The Notorious B.R.G.: When things don’t add up, somebody has to pay, one way or another.
That somebody is you.
The Notorious B.R.G. has a philosophy.
Mississippi needs a plan.
Until Mississippians start to raise hell, we’re stuck with the former.
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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