Top 3 list of things to make Starkville great......

[Maroon Eagle]

LOL. Mr. Cook & I chatted the other day about an in-state entity well-regarded by folks here in Mississippi.

Folks who are familiar with its internal dealings think of it in the opposite sense because it’s filled with small-minded & small-vision people who are so insular that they do things the way they’ve always been done.

There need to be more Big Picture people in Starkville and in Mississippi— but that ain’t happening because Mississippians discourage Outside Big Picture Thinking.

 

[Dawgbite]

Where did they put the walkons?

It's on 12 across the street from the Jeep dealership. Several new hotels along that stretch but it's not walking distance from anything other than a hotel right behind it.

 

[Junction John]

And SmallMart**

 

[PirateDawg]

I agree 100% with your assessment of Starkville and Mississippi. The "good ole boy" network thrives in Mississippi and it is killing towns like Columbus. I hate to put it this way but people that have never left the state and returned don't understand the implications of the decisions they are making. Tupelo and Southaven are the only cities in north MS that are on the right path in my humble opinion.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

I read the article. Sorry Mississippi is the only state on record now, but its not like there was any intentional decision to tax this money by elected officials as has been insinuated here. That does not mean the law cant be changed when the legislature comes back in January. This reporter called DOR and asked them, and they are referring to the law as it stands now. Maybe other states went and exempted such a forgiveness or their laws allow for the wiggle room. Again, DOR does not make policy (nor should they), they just follow the law that is passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

 

[mcdawg22]

Not sure if it's always been this way but most ofthe students working in the service industry are terrible. Have had bad service at many restaurants in Starkville on recent visits. Seems to be a trend, young managers and staff with no sense of urgency

I’ve felt that way for years. I think a lot of that has to do with what I’ve gotten used to eating at restaurants where the service industry is very competitive because the tips are so good. I can imagine the tips in Starkville aren’t great with students, but if I was a server I think I would up my game when the alumni come to town.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

MS Today story on the taxing issue.... As suspected, more to the story

https://mississippitoday.org/2022/0...heck-protection-program-loans-are-tax-exempt/

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Wish they could have worked that in closer to campus somewhere.

 

[lanceharbor7]

In the mid 90's one could go from Happy Hour at Mexico Tipico from 2-5 pm and then walk over to El Sombrero for the 5-7 pm happy hour. 5 happy hours of glorious, inexpensive mexican debauchery.

1.) Flo and Eddie's
2.) Bulldog Deli
3.) El Sombrero

 

[mcdawg22]

You're small-vision thinking is exactly why you won't come up with any solutions on how to improve StarkVegas. Please stay there and don't sully more prosperous areas by relocating.

Also, you may want to consider heading up "Tourism" - you show an uncanny knack for it

You really don’t have a lot of room to talk, considering you left an abandoned building behind in Starkville.

 

[Go Budaw]

??? Income is taxed regardless of whether the income comes from the state government. All my income in Mississippi is taxed. I don't disagree that a lot of that is robbery, but I'm not sure why income from debt forgiveness shouldn't be taxed. If it should, I'd love to start just taking a loan from my employer at the beginning of each pay period and then have that loan forgiven at the end of it and avoid taxes on it.

Income originating from Mississippi employment is subject to state income taxes. Forgiven federal student loan debt is not a form of income that has any origination point in the state of Mississippi or from any of its businesses or employees (public or private). Therefore, if its to be taxed as income, it should be done so via federal income tax. Of course, ARPA has decreed that won’t be the case and it won’t, but that should be the proper avenue in pursuing a tax from such a policy.

Do you think 43 states are all wrong in how they are applying that principle? What you are suggesting is essentially re-routing some portion of forgiven debt owed to the federal government into the treasury for an individual state that took on zero risk or financial burden from extending the debt in the first place. It’s preposterous.

 

[Go Budaw]

MS Today story on the taxing issue.... As suspected, more to the story

https://mississippitoday.org/2022/0...heck-protection-program-loans-are-tax-exempt/

So Mississippi is not only planning to tax it, but is also asking it to be the responsibility of tax payers to know how much relief they get even without receiving the 1099-C form, and report it by some sort of honor code? Good lord…

In any case, looks like you can throw out the “DOR guy just misspoke” excuse.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

...with no plans to enforce. They are following the law, and they answered like they should, following the law.

Your disdain on this issue is foolish.

 

[Go Budaw]

...with no plans to enforce. They are following the law, and they answered like they should, following the law.

Your disdain on this issue is foolish.

Nowhere in that article does it say there are no plans for the state to enforce it. It simply implies from commentary of a bunch of people not associated with the state or the DOR that enforcement might be difficult or tedious (not impossible), with a bunch of non-responses from the state as far as how far they might enforce it.

Also states clearly at the end that the recommendation is to still pay the tax “just the same as you would if you had a cash business.”

This is about the most complicated, dumb way to handle this as possible. Just say nothing and vote in the exemption in 2023 if you can’t figure it out before then. But every step should be taken to address it before that.

 

[VegasDawg13]

The default is that forgiven debt = income. You have to make an exception for it not to be (e.g., the PPP loans). The feds have made an exception for this student loan forgiveness, and most states are following along. Mississippi is not.

Also, if I do remote work for a company based in Texas, the state of Mississippi had ****-all to do with that. I still have to pay Mississippi income tax on it because I'm a Mississippi resident. So I'm not sure what the origination point or risk burden have to do with anything.

 

[Go Budaw]

The default is that forgiven debt = income. You have to make an exception for it not to be (e.g., the PPP loans). The feds have made an exception for this student loan forgiveness, and most states are following along. Mississippi is not.

I know damn well what the state law says. But the spirit of the state law is horribly applied in the particular instance of MS and 12 other states. As such, half of those other states have already passed an exemption due to the horrible optics and of not doing so. This has somehow happened in 6 states already in spite of legislative sessions mostly being done for the year across the country, and this EO just being issued a week ago. Those states also realize, correctly, that they will likely bring in way more money via sales tax revenue from those state residents than they would from the state income tax, but that’s a secondary consideration.

Also, if I do remote work for a company based in Texas, the state of Mississippi had ****-all to do with that. I still have to pay Mississippi income tax on it because I'm a Mississippi resident. So I'm not sure what the origination point or risk burden have to do with anything.

No, you pay state income tax because you are working in Mississippi. That’s no different than if you lived in Tennessee but crossed the border to work in MS or AL….you’d have to pay some percentage of the state income taxes in those states even though your state of residence has no state income tax. That’s because you are using some form of state funded infrastructure for your employment, whether it be roads, fiber optic internet network, cell phone towers, landline phones, utilities, etc. It’s an entirely different scenario than federal debt….not the same ballpark and not even the same 17ing sport. What is essentially the status quo currently is that a 17 year old student from Alaska who took on $20k in federal debt goes to college and joins the workforce. She establishes residence in MS on August 23, 2022, and all the sudden she owes the state $1000. Think about how insane that sounds.

 

[VegasDawg13]

No, you pay state income tax because you are working in Mississippi.

This is patently false. I have a client who spends months away from home, working on an oil rig in Texas. He still pays income tax to Mississippi because he's a Mississippi resident.

 

[aTotal360]

More vape shops, check cashing places, and Mexican restaurants.

 

[Go Budaw]

This is patently false. I have a client who spends months away from home, working on an oil rig in Texas. He still pays income tax to Mississippi because he's a Mississippi resident.

He probably does, but if he did that year round he would pay a small fraction of the full amount that he would pay if he worked every day in the state of MS.

There are prorated amounts you pay (or don’t pay) both ways if you live in one state but work in another that varies from state to state. But the only thing “patently false” is that your state income tax is based only on your state of residence (or even mostly on your state of residence). If that were true, my *** would be living in Tennessee.

 

[AFDawg]

Check the vibe in Bham or Memphis or Huntsville or numerous other spots where they have that set up. It’s not nearly as bad as you’d imagine. There’s basically nowhere unique to take kids in Starkville where there is mutual family enjoyment, ****, outside of McKee Park, or the movie theater….I don’t even know where you take kids, period. Folks who have kids want to get out of the house, with or without them. Best to provide options for both.

Lamar Yard in Oxford is this, essentially. It's pretty darn good.

 

[Mr. Cook]

Gas stations....Need more gas stations....

 

[Mr. Cook]

You really don’t have a lot of room to talk, considering you left an abandoned building behind in Starkville.

LOL - I did. StarkVegas had far too many businesses disguised as empty buildings to compete with

 

[Mr. Cook]

3 daily flights in and out of GTR should draw some suitors

 

[baddawggy]

Since many of us are descending upon Starkville this weekend, and if not, likely very soon, let's revisit the age-old discussion about how to make it better.

1) Get rid of the Highway 12 high-speed ******** running from Hampton Inn/Chick Fila up to Highway 182. This is PRIME walkable area. Obviously those two intersections can stay, and I know the speed limit is already low, but those ramps at Russell/Stone, University/Barr and even around Bully Blvd. need to be reworked. There's already an intersection that stops you at Russell/Stone, so why the need for all the other high-speed infrastructure like it's 1983? Slow that **** down, put speed bumps, whatever. At the very minimum, we better get on some pedestrian bridges. I'm still surprised no one has gotten hurt in that stretch yet. And not to mention the development that could happen in some of that space if we got rid of all those damn ramps.

2) Is there anywhere on the Tenn-Tom that could be developed into a decent lake resort area? Columbus Lake? Aberdeen? Obviously we won't ever have Lake Martin or Smith Lake, but maybe a Sardis?

that's a negatory on the lakes the waterway is for barge traffic. there are no dams set up to create a recreational lake area.

 

[Smoked Toag]

So Mississippi is not only planning to tax it, but is also asking it to be the responsibility of tax payers to know how much relief they get even without receiving the 1099-C form, and report it by some sort of honor code? Good lord…

In any case, looks like you can throw out the “DOR guy just misspoke” excuse.

No, it actually doesn’t. You’re going way too deep on this. DOR is just giving a canned answer. So they technically didn’t misspeak, but they are admitting that they won’t enforce, without saying it

 

[PK Dawg]

Check the vibe in Bham or Memphis or Huntsville or numerous other spots where they have that set up. It’s not nearly as bad as you’d imagine. There’s basically nowhere unique to take kids in Starkville where there is mutual family enjoyment, ****, outside of McKee Park, or the movie theater….I don’t even know where you take kids, period. Folks who have kids want to get out of the house, with or without them. Best to provide options for both.

I just spent the entire afternoon/evening boozing in the cd and walking around campus with my 2 year old. Capped it off with gelato at some place near halfway house. Kids were everywhere. Sounds like you’re the problem

 

[Nunya.sixpack]

Keeping you ole mess fans out.

 

[Mr. Cook]

I know he's not stupid. He's just an *******. I mean look at his last reply, doesn't even make sense. "small-vision", legit LOL. Not even worth responding to, the over the top jokesters and snarky ******** are just annoying in discussions like this.

It doesn't make sense to you becuase you always fail to see the larger picture. Like may of your posts, you fail to comprehend larger concepts and are very binary in your thinking. When someone encourages an alternative view -- snarky or not, you attack as opposed to open-mindedness. You focus more on the delivery of the message than the content of the message, which makes you a fool.

Discussions about "getting a Target" (which has been lamented in Starkville since the turn of the millenium) and putting up micro-breweries and bars are functions of a higher level of economic development than Starkville currently practices. Focus your energy on Starkville "leadership" and quit praising the ground Higgins walks on -- he's not a unifier

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Joe Max is good but he’s a little older than us and I’ll just say that if I were his age I’d be preparing for retirement.

So one of the three future challenges is to be prepared to find someone who can build off of what Joe Max & his team have done.

The second is more important and is what you mentioned— buy-in from Starkville & Oktibbeha County Leadership to do what they can to improve the community.

The third future challenge is also more important and that’s encouraging innovation and big picture thinking. Folks need to step up and see if they can take up Dan Camp’s mantle.

 

[thatsbaseball]

MSGA caps....Make Starkville Great Again ! ****

 

[Cooterpoot]

We need a good BBQ place like Buc-ees