In August 1993, a younger looking Bill Clinton had recently moved into the White House. Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you” was topping the charts. John Grisham’s novel, The Firm, had been made into a recently released movie, alongside the original Jurassic Park.
Personally, I had just graduated from university, and spent August ‘93 with a pilot friend flying around France in an old Piper Cub.
Much more important, August 1993 was the month that a small group of intrepid conservatives established the first office of Mississippi Family Council. This was the organization that was to become the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
For three decades, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy has been advancing the cause of liberty. We are committed to Mississippi for the long haul.
Here are some of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy’s big wins:
Tax cuts: In 2022, we helped deliver Mississippi’s largest ever tax cut, reducing the state income tax to a flat 4 percent.
Anti-woke: Last year, we authored a new law to combat Critical Race Theory in the classroom.
Cut red tape: In 2021, we helped lead efforts to introduce a universal occupational licensing law, which has helped deregulate labor markets by removing onerous red tape.
School Choice: In 2013, we helped pass a law to allow Charter Schools in our state, and we have been fierce advocates for education freedom.
Mississippi Justice Institute: Our legal arm has won over a dozen cases in defense of individual freedom.
There is so much more that needs to be done – and we need a sense of urgency and energy to make it happen!
The past thirty years has seen some remarkable economic growth across many southern states. Georgia and Tennessee have really taken off. Texas and Florida have become business and commercial centers to rival, if not eclipse, California or Chicago.
Mississippi can become part of this southern success story – but that will only happen once we adopt the unapologetically free market approach found elsewhere
Instead of cutting the income tax to 4 percent, we need to eliminate it as Tennessee and Texas have.
Instead of a handful of Charter Schools, we need to give every family in our state a legal right to control their child’s share of education tax dollars, as Arkansas is doing from 2025.
Rather than expect federal subsidies to generate wealth via economic development, we need to remove the tax and regulatory hurdles that keep business investment on the other side of the state line.
I am super excited that the Mississippi Center for Public Policy is thirty years old. But I am even more excited about the prospect of us really taking on and changing some of the fundamental things that hold back our state.
Ps. Our Fall Speaker Series is starting to take shape. Have a look at some of the brilliant speakers coming to Mississippi here and make a note of the dates in your calendar.
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