A recent report card has given Governor Bryant a ‘B’ for his fiscal policies in Mississippi.
The report, conducted by the Cato Institute, measured fiscal policies of every Governor across the country dating back to 2016 and gave each one a letter grade. Governor Bryant was among 11 governors to get a ‘B’ while just 5 were awarded an ‘A’ and the remainder received a ‘C’, ‘D’, or an ‘F’.
The report highlighted the 10-year phase-out of the corporate franchise tax as Bryant’s most significant fiscal decision, which occurred in 2016 as part of the largest tax cuts in Mississippi history.
“Bryant signed into law major tax cuts for businesses and individuals in 2016. His most important reform was phasing out, over 10 years, the corporate franchise tax, which is imposed on businesses in addition to the state’s corporate income tax. The tax currently raises about $260 million a year. Bryant gets credit for approving the measure, but business tax reform was mainly driven by the legislature.” – Cato Report
The report also cited the reduction of taxes for self-employed individuals and cutting the bottom individual and corporate income tax rates, from 3 percent to zero.
In the report, Governor Bryant fared better than governors from Mississippi’s surrounding states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
The full report can be seen here – Cato Report