— The Next Generation —
Start Here · Step 1
Tell us where you live
Tell us where you live
and what you earn
Just two fields — and in seconds you'll see your full tax bill, where every dollar goes, who's getting it, your representatives, and how Mississippi compares to other states. Nothing is stored; it all happens in your browser.
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Round number is fine. We calculate exact federal, state, and local tax based on the figure you enter.
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Homeowners: enter your home’s market value (we apply your county’s rate); leave blank to estimate from income. Renters pay no direct property tax. Retirees pay no FICA, and Mississippi exempts retirement income from state tax.
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Tip: you can also press Enter in the income field.
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)$—
- Federal fuel tax$—
StateYou pay Jackson
$—
- State income tax$—
- State sales tax (7% on consumption)$—
- Fuel & excise taxes$—
LocalYou pay your county/city
$—
- Property tax$—
- Local-option sales tax$—
- Vehicle tag (typical year)$—
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.
$7.0BState General Fund
About this data: Mississippi FY 2025 general-fund appropriations, from the Legislative Budget Office FY 2025 Appropriations Bulletin (lbo.ms.gov). Each line is that agency’s general-fund appropriation; “All other general fund” is the remaining general fund across every other agency. Transportation and the PERS employer contribution are not shown as lines: MDOT is funded by fuel taxes and fees outside the general fund, and the PERS employer share is embedded in each agency’s payroll rather than appropriated as one line.
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.
What if you lived in a different state?
Your car tag bill — and what neighbors would pay
Mississippi car tags include the state Road & Bridge Privilege Tax plus county vehicle ad valorem — 30% of the vehicle's value × the county millage rate, then reduced by the Legislative Tag Credit (6.5% of assessed value, often about half the bill). 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
$—
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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
Adjusted for inflation (constant 2025 dollars), Mississippi's general fund has been essentially flat over the decade — about $6.9 billion in FY 2016 and $7.0 billion in FY 2025, after a real-terms high near $7.6 billion in FY 2017. Since FY 2019, Corrections (+10%) and K-12 (+7%, lifted by the FY 2025 funding-formula change) gained the most ground in real terms, while Medicaid fell about 20% and Mental Health slipped slightly. All figures are general-fund appropriations from the Legislative Budget Office, deflated by the CPI-U.
Total state spending year by year (constant 2025 dollars)
Each bar is one fiscal year of general-fund appropriations, expressed in constant 2025 dollars (inflation-adjusted, BLS CPI-U). Category detail is available from FY 2019 on; FY 2016–FY 2018 show the general-fund total only.
About this data: Mississippi general-fund appropriations, FY 2016–FY 2025, from the Legislative Budget Office annual Appropriations Bulletins (lbo.ms.gov), deflated to constant 2025 dollars using BLS CPI-U annual averages. The five category lines — K-12, Medicaid, Higher Education, Corrections and Mental Health (general-fund share) — are shown for FY 2019–FY 2025; the FY 2016–FY 2018 bulletins are scanned and not machine-readable, so those years show the general-fund total only. “All other general fund” is the remaining general fund after those five categories. K-12 reflects the MAEP appropriation through FY 2024 and the new Mississippi Student Funding Formula from FY 2025, which is not directly comparable.
How fast your federal government is growing
Adjusted for inflation (constant 2025 dollars), federal outlays grew from about $5.0 trillion in FY 2015 to $6.9 trillion in FY 2024 — roughly 38% in real terms — after spiking above $8 trillion in the pandemic years. The fastest-growing line is interest on the national debt, which nearly tripled in real terms and in FY 2024 overtook national defense. All figures are actual outlays from the U.S. Treasury, deflated by the CPI-U.
Total federal spending year by year (constant 2025 dollars)
Each bar is one fiscal year of actual federal outlays in constant 2025 dollars (inflation-adjusted, BLS CPI-U), from the U.S. Treasury. The FY 2020–21 spike is pandemic relief; net interest on the debt climbs sharply toward the right.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Final Monthly Treasury Statement (Table 9), actual outlays by budget function for each fiscal year FY 2015–FY 2024 (function totals correspond to OMB Historical Table 3.2), deflated to constant 2025 dollars using BLS CPI-U annual averages. “Health (incl. Medicaid)” is budget function 550; “All Other” is total outlays minus the named functions. The FY 2020–21 increase is pandemic relief spending.
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.
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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Methodology & data sources
Every figure in this tool comes from official public records. We didn't generate the numbers — we made the government's own data easier for taxpayers to use. Personal figures are estimates based on the income and county you enter.
- Federal spendingU.S. Department of the Treasury — Final Monthly Treasury Statement, FY 2024; cross-referenced with OMB Historical Tables 3.1.
- State budget & spendingMississippi Legislative Budget Office — FY 2025–26 general fund appropriations and historical appropriations summaries.
- State revenue & income taxMississippi Department of Revenue — Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025 (revenue by source, p.17; who pays the income tax, p.40).
- Tax-burden comparisonsTax Foundation — 2024 State and Local Tax Burden Rankings.
- Car tags & hidden taxesMS Department of Revenue motor-vehicle, fuel, tobacco and alcohol schedules; IRS federal excise; MS Public Service Commission utility assessment; neighbor-state published fee schedules.
- 50-state comparisonCombined state + average local sales tax rates from the Tax Foundation (2025); effective property tax rates on owner-occupied homes from NAHB / U.S. Census (2024); state income tax structure from the Tax Foundation (2025). Per-state figures are estimates using one uniform method so the states are directly comparable.
See something off?
This tool is in beta. Figures are estimates drawn from public data and accurate to the best of our knowledge. If a number looks wrong — or you just have a question — email the team →
Provided for general information and educational purposes only, on an "as is" and "as available" basis. Figures are estimates generated from simplified models and assumptions; they are not a calculation of your actual tax liability or of any individual's or entity's actual payments, and will vary with your circumstances. Spending and other data are drawn from third-party public sources (including transparency.ms.gov and other government and public datasets) believed reliable but not guaranteed to be accurate, complete, or current, and they may contain errors or omissions or change over time. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy disclaims all warranties, express or implied — including accuracy, completeness, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose — and accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this tool. Nothing here is tax, legal, financial, investment, or accounting advice; consult a qualified professional before making any decision. This is an independent educational tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official publication of the State of Mississippi or any government agency.