For as long as college football has existed, the SEC has found ways to win recruiting battles. But the latest weapon being loaded into the SEC’s recruiting arsenal has nothing to do with facilities or head coach charisma. It has to do with tax codes. Mississippi’s House of Representatives has just passed House Bill 4014 on a 76-32 vote. It exempts college athletes’ NIL earnings from state income tax. It marked the latest chapter in what Forbes is already calling a “new NIL tax race in college sports.”

Bobby Carpenter isn’t buying it, and he made that unmistakably clear. The former Ohio State linebacker, who starred in the Big Ten before a lengthy NFL career, addressed the Mississippi development directly on his Wednesday show.

“I take issue with this, because there are people that I think need those pension payments, from the military, Social Security, and stuff like that. If you want to waive that for elderly people, like retired folks—I get it,” Carpenter said. 

“I don’t know what we’re teaching young men and young women in some states, where some schools are getting NIL. The purpose of going to college you’re growing up and learning things. I’m not sure what we’re teaching these athletes now; if you’re saying, ‘Hey, by the way, you’re going to make all this money, but you don’t have to pay taxes,’ tell me exactly how that works.” 

 The Washington Post’s editorial board made nearly the same argument on March 4, noting bluntly that Mississippi “shouldn’t prefer student athletes over students.” They pointed out that regular Mississippi residents will still pay the 4% state tax on every dollar they earn, while a star receiver with a $2 million NIL deal will pay nothing on that income at the state level.

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 The bill was authored by first-term Republican Rep. Jonathan McMillan and still requires Senate approval before becoming law. But its passage has already sent shockwaves through the college athletics world. Mississippi currently charges a flat income tax rate of 4%, meaning an athlete like Ole Miss star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, whose NIL valuation sits at an estimated $4 million, could pocket roughly $160,000 more annually simply by the legislature’s vote. 

The map of who benefits from these laws reveals just how geographically lopsided this new recruiting lever has become. Florida, Tennessee, and Texas have long had no state income tax at all. It means that every dollar an athlete earns in NIL stays entirely with the player at the state level. That means Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M have been playing with this advantage for years. 

“NIL is taking the country and coming by storm,” said Trey Lamar, Mississippi state representative. “Other states are doing it, and I believe it’s time that Mississippi starts doing this as well.”

Arkansas became the first state to specifically pass a targeted NIL tax exemption in 2025. It gave the Razorbacks a newly sharpened edge over neighboring programs. Now, Mississippi is attempting to follow, which would bring Ole Miss and Mississippi State into that privileged circle.

Meanwhile, Nevada, home to UNLV, already has no state income tax either. When you total it up, if Mississippi’s bill clears the Senate, eight of the SEC’s sixteen member schools will be located in states where athletes either pay zero state income tax on anything or have their NIL income specifically shielded. This is a structural advantage that no amount of facility investment by Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State can neutralize on its own.

The concern for the Big Ten 

This is an existential concern for the Big Ten. Ohio has a state income tax rate of 2.75%, Michigan sits at 4.25%, and Pennsylvania levies 3.07%. For a quarterback with a $3 million NIL deal choosing between Ohio State and Tennessee, the tax differential alone could represent tens of thousands of dollars annually. It will be equivalent to a significant chunk of what a program’s NIL collective might offer as an inducement to sign. 

Ohio State President Ted Carter acknowledged as much in February 2026. He warned that the current NIL model is “not sustainable” and that without structural guardrails, the trajectory of spending and state-level legislative maneuvering will only accelerate. 

His concern tracks with what Carpenter articulated from a different angle. The system is developing in a way that punishes programs in high-tax states not because of anything they did wrong, but simply because of geography. An elite offensive lineman from Mississippi choosing between Mississippi State and Ohio State must now factor in that one state charges him income tax. That is a new variable that coaches cannot out-recruit with an extra weight room.​​

Dan Wetzel of ESPN noted on March 3 that this development represents college sports officially entering the “tax code recruiting era.” Lawmakers in Texas and Missouri have already passed separate measures aimed at shielding schools and athletes from NCAA investigations tied to NIL activities. Each new law chips away a little more at the idea that there is a single, national, uniform framework governing college athletics.

What Carpenter is right to keep asking is whether the message that these laws give is the right one to send to a 17-year-old standing at the crossroads of the most consequential decision of his young life.