Bill Denny would be oldest legislator in state history if reelected

In a new column, Bill Minor spends some time on Rep. Bill Denny (R-Jackson), who is facing a rocky reelection battle against defense attorney Dorsey Carson, Jr. Denny has steadfastly refused to do interviews, so we're left with pieces like this one.

In it, Minor describes a campaign mailer Denny's been sending out that tell voters they have the chance to put Republicans back in control of the House for the first time since 1873. (Otherwise known as Bill Denny's senior year of high school.) In his mailer, Denny also says that he wants to throw the "obstructionist liberals" out of the House. (We'll excuse the octogenarian the oxymoron.)

In response to the "obstructionist" term, Minor goes after Denny's refusal to allow Motor Voter legislation to go forward in Mississippi back when he was chairman of the House Elections Committee. (Y'all remember Motor Voter, right? From back two decades ago when MTV actually played music and nobody knew what the Internet was?) Denny's blockage of Motor Voter was the height of obstructionist behavior, costing the state a pretty penny in legal fees.

What gets me, though, is this whole thing about Denny being chairman of the Elections Committee in the first place. Republicans are trying to sell this year's legislative elections as the opportunity to finally bring new leadership to the State. That's pretty rich, especially coming from a man who will be the oldest legislator in state history if reelected.

Good read from Bill Minor

Bill Minor has an interesting article on the current state of politics in Mississippi. He closes with questions most of us who follow politics closely are asking:

Even as he leaves the governor’s office, the question remains: Is Barbour going to keep a hand in the Republican machine he has built in Mississippi? That raises the other logical question: If Phil Bryant becomes governor, will he continue to be a puppet with Haley pulling the strings?

My guess is that Bryant, should he become governor, won't be easily controlled by Barbour. That may lead Barbour to focus more on D.C. lobbying than anything else.

Some interesting info on Mississippi corporate income tax (I swear that sentence doesn't contain an oxymoron)

I mentioned the Mississippi Economic Policy Center's paper on our unfair tax code a few days ago, and I failed to talk about another huge problem: our corporate income tax structure. Bill Minor, in an article from last week, covers it pretty well:

It’s because the state has a thin, outmoded tax structure whose burden depends too heavily on the state’s huge poorer population and doesn’t make its more affluent population pay its fair share. Symptomatic of the latter point was the report of the PEER staffers showing that 91 of the state’s 130 top corporations paid zero corporate tax.

...

State Tax Commission annual reports have shown for some years, corporations only pay one-third of the income taxes collected by the state. Individuals pay two-thirds of the taxes collected. That proportion is badly out of whack. In most other states the ratio between individual and corporate taxes paid is the reverse.

A major reason for Mississippi’s income tax revenue imbalance is that corporations pay the same rate of tax as individuals. The top bracket of the income tax is 5 percent for both individuals and corporations, whereas most states have a separate – and higher – tax bracket for corporations.

...

Seven years ago, the John C. Stennis Institute in a study funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found that by just increasing the top bracket 1 percent, the state would realize a minimum revenue increase of $248 million. Obviously, 1 percent would yield even more now. (Emphasis added.)

If you are interested at all in our state's government, this article is a must read. Not only does Minor talk about the corporate income tax problem, he goes into detail about how we got in this mess and why it will be difficult to get out of it.

Bill Minor on the coming anniversary of the Jackson State shootings

Bill Minor has an article up about the upcoming 41st anniversary of the outbreak of violence at Jackson State, and it's worth a read. It's interesting that the bullet-ridden aluminum panels were never given back, and I agree with Minor that they should be returned so that we can display them in the new Civil Rights Museum, assuming it gets built.