Gas and grocery taxes will soon change
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) For Melvin Mordecai, seeing prices at the pump go up in a week and a half, is not setting in too well.
“Three cents more a gallon.” said Melvin Mordecai, Mississippi resident. “And I probably burn about fifteen gallons a day, and so I would see an expense from my pocketbook for the extra gas.”
On July 1, the gas tax in Mississippi will go up three cents per gallon. This means the tax on gas will go from 18 to 21 cents per gallon. The increases will continue until it reaches 27 cents per gallon in July 2027.
Sales tax on groceries will decrease from 7% to 5%.
“I do not know of anybody that likes an increase, and that is true from all of us.” said Mordecai. “If they offset as a penny, we got to eat and we got to travel, and I do not know of any other way to do it.”
“There is a tradeoff with that.” said John Kemp, Assistant Store Manager at Sunflower. “Groceries will be a little cheaper but gas will be more expensive so there will be a tradeoff.”
“I meet a lot of low-income families, and this is going to hurt.” said Mordecai
Most families travel during the summer, and that’s the case for Mordecai and his family, but he said the increase in gas, may start to affect that.
“It could be less trips, and it could mean that my work will keep me from taking more trips.” said Mordecai
Sunflower Assistant Store Manager John Kemp said the tax changes could lead to more people struggling to pay for groceries, due to the increase in gas prices.
“We see it all the time.” said Kemp. “People will come in and have two or three transactions on the same order, so it happens for sure.”
The funds from the gas tax increase will go to the Mississippi Department of Transportation to improve the state’s infrastructure, including roads and bridges.
