— Moving the Dial in Mississippi —
Mississippi taxpayers deserve answers.
MCPP has spent years fighting for lower taxes and smaller government. The dial is moving — join us.
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Start Here · Step 1
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Tell us where you live
and what you earn
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Also · Car Tag Tax
What's your car tag
What's your car tag
really costing you?
Mississippi car tags cost two to three times what drivers in Tennessee or Louisiana pay for the same vehicle.
Your total tax bill · all three governments
$—per year, estimated
—
FederalYou pay Washington
$—
- Federal income tax$—
- Payroll tax (FICA, employee share)$—
StateYou pay Jackson
$—
- State income tax$—
- State sales tax (7% on consumption)$—
Where your federal tax money goes
The federal government spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Here is every dollar broken down by category — and your personal share of each line item, based on the federal taxes you pay. Interest on the national debt is now larger than the entire defense budget.
$6.75TTotal Federal Outlays FY 2024
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Final Monthly Treasury Statement for FY 2024 (released October 2024); Office of Management and Budget Historical Tables 3.1. Personal share is computed pro-rata from your federal income tax + FICA payroll contribution against total federal outlays.
Where your Mississippi state tax money goes
Mississippi's — state general fund, broken down by where the money is spent. Hover any slice — your personal share of each line item is shown on the right.
$7.6BState General Fund
About this data: FY 2025-26 state general fund appropriations, as published by the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office. The Economic Development line ($271M) reflects the Mississippi Development Authority's FY 2026 budget request.
Where your local tax money goes
Most Mississippi homeowners don't realise their property tax goes to several different local taxing authorities — county, city, school district, library, and special tax-increment districts. The school district takes the biggest single share.
$—Your Property Tax
About this data: Typical millage breakdown across Mississippi counties. Exact shares vary by county and by whether you live inside city limits — Madison, Pearl, Tupelo, Oxford and other cities add a municipal millage on top of the county and school millages.
Your car tag bill — and what neighbors would pay
Mississippi car tags include the state Road & Bridge Privilege Tax plus county vehicle ad valorem — calculated as 30% of the vehicle's market value × the county millage rate. Most of that money goes to local schools. A driver in Tennessee pays a flat $77 a year.
Your Mississippi car tag · — County · First year
$—
—
Same vehicle in neighboring states
Where your car tag money goes
Methodology: Mississippi tag = (vehicle value × 30%) × county millage rate, minus Legislative Tag Credit, plus the state Road & Bridge Privilege Tax (~$30). Neighbor-state estimates use each state's published tag fee schedule (Tennessee flat; Alabama and Louisiana have small base fees plus per-value ad valorem at much lower effective rates than Mississippi; Texas charges minimal annual registration but a one-time 6.25% sales tax at purchase). First-year figures use the full assessed value of a new vehicle. Ongoing-year figures apply MS DOR's true-value depreciation schedule — by roughly year 5 of ownership the per-value portion falls to about 45% of original, so the tag bill drops accordingly. Tennessee and Texas charge near-flat fees that don't depreciate.
Chapter 2
Why is your tax bill so high?
Government has grown faster than the families paying for it — at both the Mississippi and federal level. Here's how fast.
How your state government has grown
After adjusting for inflation, Mississippi's state general fund has actually shrunk slightly in real terms over the past decade — and K-12 spending has fallen. Only PERS pension contributions and Medicaid have meaningfully outpaced inflation. All figures here are in constant FY 2025 dollars.
Total state spending year by year (real dollars)
Each bar is one fiscal year of state general fund spending, expressed in constant FY 2025 dollars so inflation doesn't make the trend look bigger than it is. The total stays roughly flat — but PERS and Medicaid keep eating a larger share each year.
About this data: State general fund appropriations, FY 2016 to FY 2025, expressed in constant FY 2025 dollars. Endpoint values from the Legislative Budget Office's historical appropriations summaries; intermediate years are linearly interpolated and then deflated using CPI-U all-items annual averages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Cumulative inflation over the decade is approximately 34%, so nominal growth of roughly 25% in raw dollars translates to a slight real-dollar decline.
How fast your federal government is growing
Even after adjusting for inflation, federal outlays have grown about 38% in real terms in the past decade. The line growing fastest of all is interest on the national debt — up nearly 200% in real terms, and now roughly equal to the entire defense budget. All figures here are in constant FY 2024 dollars.
Total federal spending year by year (real dollars)
Each bar is one fiscal year of federal outlays, expressed in constant FY 2024 dollars so inflation doesn't distort the picture. Social Security, Medicare and interest on the debt outpace inflation every single year.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Final Monthly Treasury Statements, FY 2015 and FY 2024 actuals; cross-referenced with OMB Historical Tables 3.1. All figures are expressed in constant FY 2024 dollars (CPI-U all-items annual averages, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, used as deflator). Intermediate years are linearly interpolated; the FY 2020–2021 COVID emergency stimulus (CARES Act, expanded unemployment, Paycheck Protection Program) and its 2022–2023 wind-down are excluded from this view. Net Interest on Debt uses a slight non-linear curve to reflect the sharp acceleration of debt-service costs since 2022.
Chapter 3
Who actually pays Mississippi's taxes?
Sales tax is the biggest revenue source. A small slice of income-tax filers pays the lion's share. And our total burden ranks second in the South.
Where Mississippi's state revenue comes from
Mississippi's $7.2 billion in tax revenue (FY 2025), broken down by the tax that produced it. Sales tax is the largest single source — bigger than income tax — and it falls hardest on lower-income households.
Source: Mississippi Department of Revenue Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025, page 17. Total General Fund tax receipts collected by DOR: $7,230,820,230 (94.6% of all state General Fund revenue).
Who really pays Mississippi's income tax?
The Mississippi Department of Revenue itself tracks this. The result will surprise people on every side of the politics.
Source: Mississippi Department of Revenue Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025, page 40 ("Who Pays Income Tax?"). Data for tax year 2023.
The headline: 4.6% of taxpayers (those earning over $200,000) pay 40% of all Mississippi state income tax. 43.4% of filers (those earning under $30,000) pay just 1.5%.
Mississippi vs. our neighbors
Your total state-and-local tax burden as a percentage of household income — alongside the rest of the South. Lower bars mean less taken from each Mississippian.
Source: Tax Foundation, 2024 State and Local Tax Burden Rankings (taxfoundation.org). Burden = state and local taxes paid divided by state income.
— The Next Generation —
Young Mississippians deserve a state worth staying in.
Our Leadership Academy teaches high schoolers the principles of liberty and limited government.
Learn more →Chapter 4
What else are you paying for?
Beyond income, sales and property — there's a stack of taxes baked into your everyday life. And a stack of state spending that deserves scrutiny.
Where the waste hides
Three pieces of the Mississippi budget that ought to spark a public conversation. Hover any number for source.
Want updates when Mississippi tax rates change?
The state income tax is being phased out. Local property tax bills are climbing. We track the changes and email a one-page update once a month. No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.
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