SALES TAX TUESDAY 2018: Mississippi

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As we head out of the Florida Panhandle, we pass through Mobile, Alabama on our way to Mississippi. Back in 2015, I told you in my Sales Tax Tuesday article on Mississippi about my traveling days when I would drive from Oklahoma to Mississippi (specifically Gulfport, MS) just to get ‘Krispy Kreme doughnuts because that was the closest location ‘way back when.’  But there is a lot more to ‘Miss…iss…ipp…i’ (as I was taught to spell it in grade school) than just doughnuts because this state is full of history (a lot of their early history is in the prior article as well) but we will see even more in today's article.

Thanks to Avalara, the 'tax people', this article is one in a series covering sales tax issues associated with each and every state tax jurisdiction in the United States. We have been publishing a "Sales Tax Tuesday 2018" article almost every week this year and aren’t even half-way through all the states because we have had so many ‘extra’ sales tax features to cover like the sales tax holidays. In fact, we have included Mississippi in two sales tax holiday articles just a few weeks back because they are one of the few states that has more than one annual sales tax exemption holiday. But as I told you in those articles, just because we included a state in a special edition of Sales Tax Tuesday 2018 that didn’t mean we would be excluding them from our ‘regular travel-log sales tax’ features. So, let’s see what we can see in Mississippi.

You have to remember this is a ‘RV trip’ we take for these sales tax adventures, so I have decided to take in some beauty and history along with some great sightseeing along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Some of your National Park friends will be saying “the Natchez Trace takes in parts of Alabama and Tennessee as well,” and so it does, but this trip we are going to spend some time on the parkway within Mississippi, so we still have some driving to do. We head west out of Mobile on Interstate 10, then continue west on Interstate 12 to Baton Rouge (yes, we are traveling in Louisiana now) where we pick-up U.S. highway 61 north to our first stop, Natchez and the Natchez Visitor Center.

The Visitor Center sits at the head of the Mississippi River Bridge near the crossing between Louisiana and Mississippi. This one center combines both the state’s ‘welcome center’ with the National Park Service operations and provides the locale whereby we can get tickets to the various venues we will stop at along our trip.  Yes, we will pay ‘sales taxes’ on the various attraction tickets we purchase.

But, we can take in a little history from a ‘free’ 20-minute film as as an introduction to some of the sights we will see, like three antebellum homes that take us back into Civil War history. Longwood, Stanton Hall and Rosalie all have their place in history. In fact, Rosalie was at one time a headquarters of the Union Army during the Civil War, and in fact has been deemed as being the prototype for many antebellum houses found throughout the South.

Nearby is the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, which includes not only a reconstructed Natchez Indian house, but three prehistoric Native American ‘mounds.' The ‘Great Sun’s Mound’ and the ‘Temple Mound’ have been fully restored, the third mound has only been partially excavated. These mounds were religious structures for the native peoples.

The good thing about being in an RV is you just find yourself a campground, pay for a spot (sales tax included), pull-in, hook-up the electricity and make supper before a campfire or bedtime. The next morning we hit 'McD' for breakfast, and yes pay our fair share of sales tax on our delicious pancakes-n-sausage, then we are on our way up the road to Mount Locust.

This home served as an 'inn of sorts' when William and Paulina Ferguson decided to offer traveling 'Kaintucks,' who were boatmen working the Mississippi River in the late 1700's, a roof to sleep under. For more than five generations thereafter, the home welcomed travelers for 25-cents per night including cornbread for supper. No, I don't then they were collecting sales taxes back then.

As we continue northward we reach the Port Gibson Battlefield and the A.K. Shaifer House. This is one of the sites of General Grant's campaign against Vicksburg and where he engaged the Army of Tennessee led by General John Bowen. During the Battle the Shaffer house served as a Union troops hospital. The battlefield itself has changed little in the more than 155 years since the skirmishes which gave the Union control over the Mississippi side of the river and led to the capture of Vicksburg. 

Now we head for the 'ghost town' of Rocky Springs, once a thriving community which provided an important source of clean water prior to the Civil War.  Still the same this is a lovely place, and it has a campground just a 'hoot-n-hollar' away that can handle the RV for our overnight stay...all this travel and history just wears me out.

We are gong to go to the Vicksburg National Military Park this morning, but first I thought I would indulge my sweet tooth by stopping at this place I heard about called 'The Mad Baker,' which is not only baked goods and pastries, but breakfast offerings and sandwiches.  What I was told was that the 'cinnamon rolls were to die for' and I just love a good cinnamon roll.  How can you go wrong with something as wonderful as this?

The only way you can go wrong is not having 'a second' (and possibly a third) along with taking a few for later in the day, or a late night snack in the RV tonight. And yes folks, we will pay sales tax on each and every one of them.

President Abraham Lincoln told General Grant, "Vicksburg is the key to victory", so the Union forces laid siege to Vicksburg for 47 days which finally resulted in the surrender of the Confederate Army on July 4, 1863. We will begin our tour of this historic place with an orientation at the Visitor Center and then take a guided tour of the park. With a drop into the RV to make a sandwich for lunch, and eat one of those cinnamon rolls we took with us earlier, we are ready to march back out an re-look at a few more of the battlefield sights. There is a downloadable 'Vicksburg Battlefield App' that provides good information when you are touring the sites on your own, just scan the QR code and get the details about each of the sites. .

While it seems that a lot of people find discussion of our Civil War 'politically incorrect' these days, I am one who believes we should all remember that these are places of honor where Americans, on both sides of the conflict, fought and died and that in many ways these battles made America what it is today, a union of peoples once divided who have overcome the adversity and diversity for which so many perished.

One of those places I wanted to spend more time at was the USS Cairo Gunboat Museum.  This was one of seven ironclad gunboats (collectively referred to as 'the seven sisters') named for towns along the Mississippi River. These boats had multiple cannon  that were used during battles with other ships and ground troops. The Cairo was defeated on December 12, 1862 while attempting to destroy Confederate batteries along the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg. The ship was attacked by torpedoes and sank in thirty-six feet of water, although all crew on board made it safely to shore. 

It wasn't until 1966 that the Cairo was finally raised from the river's muddy bottom. Soon thereafter a restoration project began and in 1972 the National Park Service was granted title to the ironclad that ultimately led to the museum which is available public tour today.

It's been another long day, time to pack it in (to the RV) and enjoy a little relaxation (like a nap followed by one last cinnamon roll) before bedtime.

Bright and early the next morning we have a long drive ahead of us as we head for another commemorative spot on our tour.  This isn't another battlefield or Civil War memorial, no, we are heading north well past Jackson to the home of another battlefield, but that's not what attracts us to Tupelo. We are heading for the birthplace of 'the King', the one and only Elvis Presley. Even if you aren't an Elvis fan, you still need to see the house where Elvis was born and the store where he purchased his first guitar, because you can't deny how he influenced music as we know it.

True, this isn't the majesty and grandeur of Graceland, but still this two-room house was built by the King's father for a mere $180 and where he grew up under modest conditions attending school, playing in neighborhood parks, attending church and doing chores around the home just like any normal kid. 

But the Elvis Birthplace isn't the only attraction in Tupelo, we are also here to try out one of the local places because we are on the prowl for Bar-B-Q and the place to get it is at Bar-B-Q by Jim's, a casual joint serving some amazing 'Q'.

Whether you are having a pulled-pork sandwich, or loaded french fries, sliced meat or a slab of 'to die for' ribs, you won't go hungry at this place, but you will pay plenty of sales tax along with your tab because Tupelo has one of the highest 'local jurisdictions sales tax' of any Mississippi city. And speaking of sales tax, it's time to pay the bills for this trip and that means 'talking sales tax, Mississippi Sales Tax.'

Mississippi is like many states that rely on sales taxes to help them pay the bills of state government. Local governmental entities also rely on sales taxes to provide services to their local Mississippi citizenry. While Mississippi has both an annual 'back-to-school sales tax holiday and a separate 2nd-amendment sales tax holiday, they otherwise take sales tax enforcement very seriously.  So let's look at some of the specific.

Mississippi Sales Tax Facts:

  • The state sales tax rate is 7%, but can be as high as 8% with local taxes.
  • The Mississippi Department of Revenue is responsible for the administration and collection of Sales and Use taxes.
  • Mississippi imposes sales tax on the retail sale or lease of tangible personal property along with specific public utilities, amusement admissions and business services.
  • Prescription drugs and health care services are exempt from sales taxes.
  • They charge an even higher (8%) sales tax rate on food and drinks sold in vending machines.
  • But they charge a lower rate (1.5 - 5%) rate on the retail sales of farm equipment, cars and trucks, mobile homes and trailers and construction and construction contracting.
  • Mississippi imposes sales tax on grocery items (food for home consumption) at the full 7% state sales tax rate.
  • Mississippi is one of the few origin-based sourcing states. This means that sales tax is based on the location of the seller, not the buyer.
  • Mississippi is not a Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) state.
  • For frequently asked questions about Mississippi sales tax see this MDOR website.

There are just a lot of particulars about sales tax in Mississippi and we all know that manual sales and use tax management is prone to errors even in the most simplistic of states. Sales tax collection, accounting, remittance and reporting consume valuable staff time in what can only be described as pass-through rather than revenue-generating activities. But there is an easier way, Avalara provides solutions for sales tax automation, including tax calculation, exemption certificate management, returns processing and 1099 filing and reporting. Automation via AvaTax allows businesses to be fully sales tax compliant without sacrificing productivity.

With Avalara on your side, you will be taking more RV trips to enjoy the sights, rather than worrying if you properly collected and remitted sales taxes no matter where you are or where your customer is buying from.