As of last week, Mississippi hospitals are being taxed 1.5% on their gross revenues to make up for a $360 million shortfall in the state’s Medicaid budget, reports The Clarion-Ledger. In the past, only public hospitals bore the assessment, but at a lower rate of .35% on gross revenues. Hospitals say the tax will “cripple” them and force them to cut staff and services. “Hospitals, as a business in this state, will be the only business that will have a tax on their gross revenue,” Sam Cameron, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association, told The Clarion-Ledger. The state’s attorney general is currently investigating whether Gov. Haley Barbour can impose the tax without legislative approval.
