Greenwood, Cleveland papers support 27% gas tax hike

As we've discussed, Butch Brown at the Mississippi Department of Transportation is advocating a 27% gas tax hike. Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant is opposed to it. And the Clarion Ledger has editoiralized agains it.

But the Greenwood Commonwealth and the Bolivar Commercial newspapers have both come out in favor of the gas tax hike.

The Greenwood Commonwealth not only advocates for the hike, but suggests that the legislation make it an automatically increasing tax every year.

The initial reaction when someone starts talking about raising taxes is a knee-jerk negative. That response is not just predictable, but understandable. People feel taxed enough already. In Mississippi, it takes on average almost three months of work to pay all of the state, federal and local taxes for the year -- and that’s a shorter time frame than in most parts of the country.

It will be said that, given the recession, this is no time to increase taxes. But when will there be a good time? When gasoline prices were $4 a gallon in 2008, it was said that was not a good time either. At least prices at the pump have moderated since then.

A better idea than the nickel increase would be to peg the excise tax to inflation, with an automatic adjustment every year. That way, the gas tax would keep up with the rising costs of road-building and repair.

The Bolivar Commercial calls it a "necessary evil."

We know that a tax increase is a politician’s most unfavorable task in Mississippi, and the public doesn’t think too highly of the idea either. One of Gov. Haley’s Barbour’s favorite expressions after he was elected, for example, was “No new tax increases.”

But sometimes—even in a recession—a tax increase is painfully necessary for the safety and well-being of our citizens. And we hope both Barbour and our legislators will realize the nickel increase on a gallon of gas is simply a necessary evil if Mississippi is to keep its infrastructure up to date.

Lets see...a 27% tax on a 50 cent newspaper is about 13.5 cents. Why don't we put a 13.5% tax on newspapers and send the revenue to education where one might argue the state is teaching people to read so they can consume the newspapers. Oh, and peg it to inflation so that newspaper tax increases with inflation. No one will notice. It will be a necessary evil.