JACKSON – Amy Tuck’s eight-year tenure as Mississippi’s lieutenant
governor ended Thursday with the swearing in of her successor, Phil
Bryant.
Tuck, who could not run again because of term limits, will now work
as a special assistant to the Mississippi State president.
Tuck made a lasting impact on state government. She is, after all,
only the second woman in Mississippi elected to statewide office.
She also presented the proposal that changed the debate in
Mississippi. It was Tuck’s idea to decrease the grocery tax and offset
the loss revenue by increasing the cigarette tax.
No doubt, the symmetry to Tuck’s proposal is hard to deny.
Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, has the highest
state-imposed grocery tax. And Mississippi, the least healthy state in
the nation, has the third lowest cigarette tax – almost $1 below the
national average.
While Tuck is leaving, look for the tax-swap issue to stay around and
appear again when Gov. Haley Barbour’s tax study committee releases
its findings. If it is not part of the findings, others will work to make
sure it becomes part of the debate.
As far as Tuck, don’t assume her career in politics is completed. The
governor’s office will be vacant in four years, and she could always, after
sitting out four years, run again for lieutenant governor – a
position she appears to really enjoy holding.
Read more from Bobby Harrison in Friday’s Daily Journal.
