Senate Finance Committee kills House NIL income tax exemption bill

• Schools in states with no income tax have sought to use that to their benefit when recruiting college athletes. Mississippi won’t be joining them, at least for now.

The Mississippi Senate Finance Committee killed a House bill Monday that sought to exempt name, image and likeness, or NIL, compensation from the state’s income tax. 

“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,” State Senator Dean Kirby (R) said before making a motion to lay the bill on the table, effectively killing the bill.

Smiles and chuckles could be seen among the Senators as they voted the measure down.

As previously reported, schools in states with no income tax have sought to use that to their benefit when recruiting college athletes.

Nine states – Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming – do not have an income tax. Arkansas lawmakers voted last year to NIL earnings paid to college athletes directly from their universities from the state’s income tax.

READ MORE: Mississippi House moves to exempt NIL compensation from state income tax

First-term State Rep. Jonathan McMillan (R) was seeking to have Mississippi join the group while providing the state’s universities with a leg up in recruiting even as the Magnolia State gradually eliminates the state income tax for all earners over the next decade, assuming certain economic triggers are met.

McMillan’s bill drew bipartisan support as well as bipartisan opposition before it passed the House by a vote of 76 to 32.