2019 MS Governor's race: on Tax Reform

Jim Hood: Tax cuts to wealthy caused mental health budget cuts

Robert Foster: Eliminate Mississippi's personal income tax

Foster said Mississippi should eliminate its personal income tax and increase the gasoline tax to help pay for infrastructure. "Everybody needs to pay as they go," he said.

Robert Foster: Sales taxes are best; poor pay more but are taken care of

A: Well, you could make that argument. However, when the economy starts to do better--which I know it will because economically it will unleash our economy on a different level--then the poor will be taken care of. You can argue that it will affect them more because they'll have to pay a little bit higher sales tax, but they're also getting their money to buy their groceries from the government anyway, so it's kind of a moot argument to me to say that it's going to hurt them when we're taking care of them anymore. We have to have a strong economy in order to afford to take care of them. And so, if we want to make everybody's lives better, we have to get a tax system that makes the economy grow, because when you do that then everybody benefits.

Robert Foster: Excise and sales tax, rather than income and property tax

Tate Reeves: Reduce taxes to help small business

Keeping taxes low:
• Made the tax appeals process more affordable and accessible.
• Ended the state inventory tax that hurt small businesses.
• Reduced unemployment taxes on small businesses, so employers can afford to hire more workers.
• Helped make our state's unemployment the fifth lowest in the country, according to the 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index published by the Tax Foundation.