One would not necessarily expect that a young man who grew up on a farm helping tend to cows and cut hay would be into psychology, but Brian Jackson was — and still is.
Jackson, in his 30th year as tax commissioner for Jones County, earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and nearly completed his master’s degree requirements.
“You know,” he reflected, “you studied what interested you, not what was going to make you money. And that’s kind of where I was. It always fascinated me, just in relationships with people and crowd mentalities and why people do what they do; just understanding how your mind works, and what different experiences do to you and how it shapes your behavior and your outlook and the perspectives.
“And so,” he noted, “that was my course of study. And, I loved it. It was very enlightening to me, and I just enjoyed understanding people and still do.”
Jackson, now 57, grew up in Round Oak on the family farm and graduated from Jones County High. He has one sister, Staci, and he and his wife, the former Kim Stewart, have one son, 17-year old Nick, a senior at JCHS.
Following college graduation, Jackson initially worked at the Medical Center in the psychiatric unit.
“The job opportunities there were kind of scarce for that field unless you wanted to continue along the education path, where you either end up as a psychologist or teaching or testing.”
Jackson was working at the Medical Center when a position with the Older Americans Council in Jones County became available. Alberta Snead retired as the manager, and he landed that job in 1993.
“I was working with seniors, and I loved, absolutely loved, that job,” he commented. “That’s probably my favorite job that I’ve had in my life. There wasn’t any money in it. You could hardly make a living. But it was fun, seeing all those older folks all the time.”
The work at the OAC did give the future politician experience that would come in handy later.
“At that time, we were working with multiple budgets. You had federal grant money, state grant money, some local money. And you know how it is — if you get state money or federal money for anything, they give you a dollar, you’ve got $20 worth of paperwork you’ve got to fill out on a regular basis. So I guess I was already kind of accustomed to working with finances from that side.”
Tax Commissioner Marilyn Sauls did not seek re-election in 1996, and the 27-year old Jackson was encouraged to run.
“I had several people to talk to me about it, and I talked to Uncle Jerry at the shop about it.”
‘Uncle Jerry’ was Jerry Jackson, co-owner of Jackson Brothers Auto Parts and Garage. His nephew explained that the man had a special talent.
“You know how some people are just born with an understanding of something that just defies explanation? They just have this gift that you cannot explain? Well, one of his was he understood politics, especially at the local level, very well, and he was always one that if you were running for office in the county, you wanted to go talk to him.
“So he and I sat down and had a long talk about it, and he kind of guided me along the way. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”
Jackson has apparently been doing it very well. He is in his eighth term and has never had opposition since he won that first election.
“It’s one of those things that I don’t know that anybody wants it,” he speculated with a chuckle.
Jackson, named Tax Commissioner of the Year in 2016, pointed out he is not the only constitutional officer to serve multiple terms and be honored for their service. Sheriff Butch Reece, former Probate Judge Mike Greene, and former Superior Court Clerk Bart Jackson were all named as their respective officer of the year by their state association at various times.
“I thought that was a great statement for Jones County,” the tax commissioner said.
The responsibilities of his office are easy to explain, Jackson said.
“In a nutshell, we collect on real property, personal property, timber, motor vehicles, heavy equipment, and then we’ll basically prepare a tax digest every year, which is just a summary of everything out there in the county that’s taxable and what the value is.
“Then,” Jackson continued, “the county and the school board can kind of sit down and look and go, ‘Okay, here’s our value. What kind of a mill rate or tax rate do we need to get the amount of money that’s going to take in our budget?’ They set that, and then we bill on it, collect it, and turn it over. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Jackson reflected on his tenure and mentioned Donna Wynn from Pike County.
“She was like six months younger than me, and we were the two youngest jokers in the group. And she’s still there, so now we’re like two of the oldest jokers as far as longest serving, not age-wise, but how long we’ve been in office.
“It doesn’t seem like that long ago that you were the new kid that didn’t know what the heck was going on, to now: you’re just the one leaning back in the corner and listening to them gripe about stuff, and you’re like, ‘Oh, honey, you don’t have any idea,’ because when we used to do it, you learned how to do everything. You didn’t have computers, and you didn’t have any way to look online at things.
Jackson credited technology with his ability to not increase staff size.
“I’ve still got the same number of staff now that I had when I started. Believe it or not. As far as the positions that I have, we kind of had to change things up a little bit. And of course, that’s one good thing about computers and such. One person can do the work of what three used to do. Granted, you’re still working hard all day long.”
While she wasn’t a staff member, there was one person at the Tax Commissioner’s office one day that made a difference in Jackson’s routine: Kim Stewart.
“She had gone to Jones County High too, but she was a year or so behind me, and we never really knew each other in school,” he pointed out. Jackson’s mother was working at Robins Federal Credit Union, and Stewart had gone there one day to get her car refinanced. She also needed to get her title updated.
“My mama called me and said, ‘There’s a girl coming up there to get her title done. You need to meet her.’ That’s kind of how we ended up meeting. So, yeah, my mama put that one together.”
Jackson said they had dated for around a year when the company where Stewart was working downsized. She was among the employees let go, and the couple decided to move up their planned wedding date.
“We went up to Townsend, Tennessee, to a little wedding chapel. It was outside of Pigeon Forge, and we just had some family and friends come. As a matter of fact, Greg Thompson up at Central (Baptist Church) and his wife, Rita, came up. He’s the one that married us.” They wed in September of 2004.
Now, 22 years later, Jackson’s outlook on life has changed in part. His father, Jones Jackson, passed away in 2021 and his uncle, Rodney Jackson, in 2024, leaving the farm operation to the next generation, Brian and Rodney’s son, John.
“We kind of had to step in there and decide, ‘Well, are we gonna keep doing this, or are we not? What are we gonna do?’ So he and I kind of just took the reins of raising cows and cutting hay and just kind of running the farm out there.”
There was a difference, though.
“It was one of those things where, when you got your daddy or somebody else telling you, ‘Hey, we need to do this or we need to go over there and take care of this,’ that’s fine. You just go do the work.
“But it’s a lot different now when it’s you in charge. It’s like, ‘Okay, we gotta go tag all these calves.’ You’re making the decisions now. You know, we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it. You aren’t gonna make a living farming of any kind, or at least none that I know of.
“That’s just what we grew up doing. And now, we’re the next ones in line to do it. So that takes up a lot of my free time now, but I enjoy that very much.”
While he does enjoy raising cattle and growing and cutting hay along with the other chores that accompany that lifestyle, Jackson has no intention of giving up his ‘day job.’
He will be up for election in 2028 for his ninth term.
“I don’t see myself stepping down in the near future.”
