Yesterday, in less than 5 hours with little to no debate, the Mississippi legislature gave away $250 million of your money to an undisclosed company.
This project uses millions of tax payer dollars, including cash and compensation to the company , a 15-year exemption of corporate income taxes, and exemption from sales and use taxes. It pays the company back 3.5% of the gross payroll for 10 years and it allows the company to pay for employees’ moving expenses from other states.
This is not acceptable to business owners and job creators in Mississippi who do not benefit from any of these carve-outs. Republicans claim during elections that small businesses are the engine that drives our economy, but their actions are always in favor of the large corporations. Mississippi has been giving money away for “economic development” since 1936 and we are still in last place economically. We must stop corporate welfare and focus on real economic growth. If we focused on building a climate that businesses wanted, we would not have to bribe them with taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
Corporate welfare is not good for the taxpayers but is part of the “good ole boys’” system that makes so many people distrust government.
I am proud to say that the Mississippi Freedom Caucus stood fast against the establishment and voted in support of Mississippi’s small business owners and taxpayers. With your help, thousands of emails were sent to the Governor and legislators opposing, behind the scenes, backdoor give-away deals.
One reporter, while covering the special session, called us the “small but vocal Mississippi Freedom Caucus of conservative Republican lawmakers.” Our voice is only made loud because of you, our supporters. We may not have won the war, but they know we are in the battle.
Thank you for fighting with us,
Dana