Jackson Votes Nov. 3 on a Tourism Tax Increase. Visit Jackson’s Own Numbers Show the Base It Would Double.
Visit Jackson’s 2024 annual report put its tourism tax collections at $3.5 million, flat year over year. The Nov. 3 ballot asks voters to raise both rates that feed that line.
Jackson voters decide Nov. 3 whether to raise the two taxes that pay for Visit Jackson, and the agency’s own annual report supplies the number the campaign has not put on a mailer: $3.5 million. That is what Visit Jackson reported collecting in tourism taxes in 2024, flat year over year, according to its 2024 annual report published on Issuu. The same report lists total expenses of $5,406,000, so the dedicated tourism tax covered roughly 65 cents of every dollar the bureau spent that year.
The ballot question, certified from the county’s text and posted by Ballotpedia, raises the restaurant and prepared-food rate from 1% to 1.5% and the hotel, motel, and vacation-rental rate from 1% to 2%. The Clarion Ledger reported the increase would add 10 cents to a $20 restaurant bill and $1 to a $100 hotel room, and that it needs 60% of voters to pass. Senate Bill 3328, which the Department of Revenue lists among the 2026 local tax acts, authorized the vote and extended the bureau’s repeal date.
The rate change is not proportional, and that is the part worth understanding before voting. The restaurant rate rises by half a point on a 1% base, a 50% increase. The lodging rate rises by a full point on the same 1% base, a 100% increase. If the two revenue lines in the 2024 report were equal, the combined tourism tax stream would grow by about 75%. The report does not break collections between restaurants and hotels, so the actual split, and the actual new dollars, are not on the public record.
Who pays is narrower than who votes. The tax lands on prepared-food sales at restaurants meeting the state’s gross-proceeds threshold and on stays at lodging places with more than ten rental units, per the Department of Revenue’s description of the Jackson bureau tax. A Jackson household that eats out pays the restaurant half of the increase. A household that never stays in a Jackson hotel pays none of the lodging half, which is the argument Visit Jackson makes on its campaign page: visitor spending supporting the city’s economy rather than local residents.
The full stack is where the comparison gets sharp. Visit Jackson’s own business guide lists 7% state sales tax, the 1% bureau tax, a 3% convention center tax on rooms and 1% on restaurants, a 75-cent-per-room-per-day telecom center charge, and a 1% special infrastructure tax on restaurants. That puts a Jackson restaurant bill at 9% and a hotel bill at 11% plus 75 cents a night. A yes vote takes them to 9.5% and 12%. The Clarion Ledger, citing Department of Revenue figures, reported Ridgeland at 9% and 10%, Pearl at 8% and 10%, Brandon at 9% and 10%, and Madison with no local tourism levy at all.
The money does not reach the city’s general fund. The ballot language dedicates the revenue solely to the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, doing business as Visit Jackson, for destination marketing, convention sales, tourism promotion, visitor services, and economic development initiatives. Visit Jackson says the money must be accounted for separately and audited annually, and its campaign page says the bureau is available to brief neighborhood associations and civic groups. The Department of Revenue’s listing states the levy stands repealed from and after July 1, 2030, so the increase would run against that sunset unless lawmakers extend it.
The political record is lopsided. Visit Jackson’s campaign page says the measure drew unanimous approval at the city level and in the state Senate, with two opposing votes in the House. At the Oct. 20 council meeting, Ward 7 Councilman Kevin Parkinson introduced CEO Rickey Thigpen, and Councilmen Brian Grizzell and Vernon Hartley and Councilwoman Tina Clay spoke for the increase, the Clarion Ledger reported. Thigpen said federal funding that had supported the agency for five years ended Aug. 31. WLBT found a resident, John Matthews, who said the city should spend on streets and rent instead.
What’s next: the question is decided Nov. 3 on the Hinds County general election ballot, and it needs 60% of those voting on the measure, not a simple majority. In-person absentee voting is under way, and the Secretary of State’s office and local outlets have published the rules and deadlines. Voters who want the certified wording can read the sample ballot through Hinds County, and the council resolution that placed the item on the ballot is item 22 in the Aug. 25 agenda packet at jacksonms.gov. Watch the turnout on the tourism question itself: a low-turnout down-ballot item is where a 60% threshold does its work.
If it passes, the first collections at the higher rates would show up in Department of Revenue distributions, and the bureau’s next annual report is where the new revenue line would appear. The Wire will compare that figure to the $3.5 million base.