Waiting for my suitcase in the arrivals hall at Jackson airport the other evening, it occurred to me that the luggage carrousel was a pretty good metaphor for Mississippi politics.
Like suitcases on a carrousel, many leaders simply sit on the conveyor belt of state politics, waiting their turn to get moved along to the next role.
Suitcases on a conveyor belt: not much charisma
Too often leaders are carried along by time and process, rarely offering any vision as to what our state should do differently.
This explains why Mississippi conservatives have achieved less in 12 years than Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama have accomplished in the past 12 months. Louisiana did not even have a Republican governor this time last year, yet they’ve already passed universal school choice.
Things could be about to change if House Speaker, Jason White, has his way.
This week, White announced that he will be hosting a Tax Policy Summit on September 24th to take a deep dive into the prospects for Tax Reform. It's open to the public, and free to register here:
My friend, Grover Norquist, will be speaking, as will Gov Reeves, as well as Sen Jeremy England and Sen Josh Harkins, and Rep Trey Lamar and Rep Scott Bounds.
Conservative leadership looks like this
Having a conversation in public matters because in the past the leadership in our state Senate has done what it can to head off tax cuts. Bringing the facts of what can and cannot be done into the open makes it far harder for anyone to keep finding new excuses to oppose actual conservative policy.
Back in 2022, Mississippi passed a law to cut the state income tax to a flat 4 percent. This $525 million tax cut, driven forward by Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov Reeves, benefited 1.2 million taxpayers and their families. But we must not forget how some in the Senate fought against it.
Weak Senate leadership has a history of opposing conservative proposals in our state.
The Senate leadership maneuvered to stop anti-DEI legislation in 2024. For three years in a row, the Senate leadership has killed off attempts to restore the ballot initiative.
Rep Rob Roberson’s excellent school funding reform bill, perhaps the only big strategic achievement of this year’s session, passed despite attempts to scupper it by some in the Senate. (Part of the deal to get the bill passed was to change its name.)
When the Senate leadership wants to oppose an authentically conservative policy, they follow a now familiar pattern.
A reason is cited as to why what is being proposed can’t be done. School choice, we were once told, would be unconstitutional. An anti-DEI law, it was implied, was unnecessary because there was no DEI on campus.
Once that excuse is shown to be nonsense (there is no constitutional bar to school choice, DEI is rampant on campus), another excuse is promptly conjured up. And on it goes.
Each time the Senate leadership opposes conservative policy this way, I wonder what their alternatives are. The answer is that most of the time there are none. It is not enough to oppose ideas that aren't your own.
Eventually, of course, a suitcase that sits on the carousel for too long ends up in lost luggage.
Sad end to a long and pointless journey?
As a direct consequence of the 2022 Reeves-Gunn tax cuts, Mississippi is now starting to see a flood of inward investment into the state. Every time you hear about a new factory opening up in our state, remember who and what helped make it happen.
I am very optimistic that this Tax Summit could see further progress to make our state more competitive.
