Mississippi Ranks 46th in State and Local Taxes Per Capita
June 3rd, 2011
Mississippi ranks 46th among states in the amount of state and local taxes collected per capita, collecting just over $3,000 per capita in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The tax data point to low levels of tax collections relative to other states per capita and underscore the challenges that face Mississippi in maintaining the public structures that could ultimately improve quality of life. The table below shows a comparison of state and local taxes collected per capita for Mississippi (red), the other 49 states (blue), and the U.S. average (green).
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State and Local Taxes Collected Per Capita by State, FY 2008
While this points to a challenge for Mississippi, there are ways to update the tax system to collect more revenue to fund our public structures while also making the system more equitable for working families. The state’s public structures provide the foundation of our economy but have been threatened by year-after-year of budget cuts and underfunding. To ensure the state continues to recover from the recent recession, those public structures, like our education and infrastructure systems, need adequate funding.
Source:
MEPC analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau
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