State income tax changes begin, will only save Mississippians a few hundred per year

Mississippi republicans' multi-year plan to officially eliminate state income tax starts this month.  A bill passed last year removes one of the taxable income brackets, meaning this year Mississippians can make more taxable income before the state taxes them. This is the first step in a plan that state officials have laid out to eventually phase out state income tax altogether.

Ryder Taft is a portfolio manager at New Perspectives. He says the "4% bracket" that is being removed only covers 5 thousand taxable dollars, and some Mississippians won't see much of a difference.

"That total amount [saved], if you do the math, is about 200 dollars in the year," he said. "It's not huge for some people, but there's a lot you can do with it."

The state's plan is to reduce the final 5% bracket every year until it reaches 4%. Taft says that these marginal decreases won't be significant to anyone not making a lot of money.

"Reducing that 5% bracket is gonna have the biggest impact on the higher earners," he said. "[because] they are paying most of their income tax in that 5% bracket."

Mississippi was one of 38 states to make tax changes last year. Lawmakers are exploring was to expedite the state income tax reduction this year.