Mississippi Senate committee kills bill to exempt NIL pay from income tax

The Mississippi Senate Finance Committee on Monday voted to table a House bill that would have exempted name, image and likeness, or NIL, compensation from the state income tax, State Sen. Dean Kirby, R, said.

“I don’t know about the rest of you on this committee but I’ve had several constituents that have been calling me that are not happy at all about this bill,” Kirby said before moving to lay the measure on the table, effectively killing it.

Senators smiled and chuckled as they voted down the measure, according to observers at the committee meeting. The action blocks a proposal supporters said would give Mississippi universities a recruiting advantage.

Supporters of the exemption have pointed to states without a personal income tax as a recruiting benefit for schools. Nine states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — do not have a state income tax. Arkansas lawmakers last year voted to exempt NIL earnings paid directly to college athletes by their universities from that state’s income tax, proponents noted.

The bill was sponsored in the House by first-term State Rep. Jonathan McMillan, R. It passed the House 76-32 after drawing bipartisan support and opposition, McMillan’s office said. Supporters argued the exemption would help recruiting as Mississippi phases out its income tax over the next decade if certain economic triggers are met.

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