So, the 2022 Mississippi legislative session is now in the books and all its members including the speaker of the house and the governor, are still slapping each other on the back for what they call a job well done. Well, let's just delve a little deeper.
I have personally calculated (several times) the collective amount of yearly compensation for all of these members. This includes salaries, SLURP (their retirement), health insurance, and per diem reimbursements. What I came up with is not a liberal or conservative estimate but a moderate figure. Collectively, the taxpayers of Mississippi are paying about $7,000,000 per year for our our legislature to handle the business for our state. Add to that, corruption at the highest levels of state government in recent years, and you can add many millions more to that total.
So, let's look and see what we got (or rather, did not get) for our money this year.
The shiny new object this year was Critical Race Theory. CRT, like voter fraud a few years ago, was a non-existent problem. How much time and taxpayer money was wasted on a problem that did not exist? They did not fix the voter initiative nor did they expand Medicaid. They did allocate much of the 1.8 billion dollars the federal government gave to the state months ago. This was easy task, which they get no credit for, in my estimation. And did they maximize it for even more federal dollars? Speaker of the House and former president of ALEC, Phillip Gunn (R), got his wish and carved 550 million from state coffers in the next four years in the form of the tax reduction.
However, they did not lower the 7% grocery tax, which it is one of the highest rates in the country and Mississippi remains the hungriest and poorest state in the nation. It's truly nauseating. It's my humble opinion that most Mississippians would rather see that revenue go toward improvements in state services, roads, rural healthcare, etc., instead of a tax refund. It is also my humble opinion that Mr. Gunn is "gunning" for budget shortfalls in coming years as an excuse to slash state agencies and privatize PERS.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves appears to be the lone road block to the expansion of Medicaid. We've all seen the benefits and positive economic impact this would have for our state. And oh yes, it would give 300,000 hard working Mississippians access to healthcare. Considering the fact that as governor; Tate Reeves himself, has taxpayer sponsored health insurance...this is TRULY nauseating.
I could go on, but I think I have made my case here, folks. We didn't get much at all for $7,000,000. I think we can sum it all up as "negligent governance." So, here's my final thought... voters in each legislative district (house and senate) should look around in their community and see what needs there are. They should then compile a "to do" list for the 2023 legislative session and give it to their representatives. If their representatives fail to address their issues... the next election cycle for members of the legislature is November 2023.... vote them out of office.
Camille Wright lives in Brandon.
