/Roads bill likely dead, Republican leader says

Roads bill likely dead, Republican leader says

Charles Busby (R-Pascagoula), Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said to the Associated Press that it was unlikely that a bill on infrastructure would be passed. Busby stated that House members would rather reduce the budget of Mississippi Department of Transportation than increase taxes for road improvement. Rep. David Baria (D-Bay St. Louis), who said last week that Democrats had a plan to fund transportation by eliminating corporate tax subsidies, stated that his Democratic colleagues plan to meet Monday with MDOT officials and the Department of Revenue. Baria stated that “I believe there is still an opportunity here but I’m disappointed that the leadership seems to have given up on it-so we’ll keep trying.” Busby didn’t immediately respond to messages Monday but said that he had presented funding ideas to the AP, including raising sales taxes from 7 percent to 9 percent and eliminating the grocery tax. Another idea was to change the 18 cents per gallon fuel tax from a sales tax of 10 percent that includes a floor of 20 cents and a ceiling of 30 cents per gallon. He said that none of these proposals won favor with his colleagues. On Friday, the Mississippi Economic Council released results from a poll that showed more than 60% of Mississippians support an “reasonable tax increase” to fund infrastructure improvements. According to the poll, 85 percent of Mississippians support spending more money to fix roads and bridges. Mason-Dixon Polling & Research conducted a poll of 625 Mississippians. The margin of error was four percentage points. Both Republicans and Democrats supported raising taxes to fix roads, according to the poll. The MEC published a report earlier this year estimating that $375 million annually is required to repair roads and bridges in Mississippi. While the Senate passed a placeholder bill earlier this session, Sen. Willie Simmons (D-Cleveland), was not available for comment. Last week, Busby stated to Mississippi Today that he was open to listening and considering other plans. However, he believed that rolling back tax incentives would cause opposition from lawmakers.