JACKSON, Miss. — Several new laws passed during the 2025 Mississippi Legislative Session go into effect today, July 1, 2025, impacting taxes, criminal justice, and consumer regulations.
A significant tax reform reduces the state income tax by 0.25%, continuing a gradual phase-out, while the grocery sales tax drops from 7% to 5%. However, the gas tax increases by 3 cents per gallon.
The Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) introduces a Tier 5 for new government hires, effective March 2026, leaving current employees and retirees unaffected.
In criminal justice, HB 724 makes it a misdemeanor to intentionally fail to submit an assisted absentee ballot, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and one year in jail.
HB 1200, the Real Property Owners Protection Act, establishes a legal process to remove squatters from private property, while HB 1203 bans camping on public property, with a first-offense fine of up to $50.
Impersonating a police officer is now a felony under HB 1338, and HB 1308 creates a felony for “grooming” a child for exploitation.
Consumer laws include HB 916, requiring cigarette and vape manufacturers to register products by Sept. 1, 2025, for inclusion in a state directory, with non-compliant products banned from sale by Oct 1.
Direct wine shipments to residents are now permitted, allowing up to 12 cases per address annually.
Other notable laws include free court record access for public defenders and prosecutors (SB 2482), a Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team (HB 2886), and updated fireworks sales regulations (SB 2210).
These changes aim to enhance public safety, streamline legal processes, and adjust economic policies across the state.
For a complete list of all laws going into effect today, visit the Mississippi Legislature’s website.
Mary
July 1, 2025 at 12:37 PMSo. We will pays
1% more in taxes by raising tax on gas. How is this helping Mississippians? What are you doing with the extra taxes from the lottery and scratch off tickets, BP money and taxes from Casinos? Why raise taxes on gas?
Dixie
July 1, 2025 at 10:25 PMYou said exactly what I was going to say. 👍
Phyllis
July 2, 2025 at 1:11 PMYou may want to re-read the post. That would be a .75% increase w/ the happiness of eventually phasing out state income tax! Yay
Don
July 6, 2025 at 12:23 PMApply the rate reductions to your own expenses for each of these taxes, and you’ll understand the impact on you. I can guarantee, sight unseen, that you and pretty much every Mississippi taxpayer will have an appreciable reduction in your tax burden.
For the average driver, the gas tax will cost about $30/year with this tax increase.
I’ve no idea what the average Mississippian pays monthly for groceries, but I suspect $500 is too low. Using that number, $6,000 a year in groceries will cost $120 a year less than last year, dwarfing the gas tax increase.
Acc. to my Grok Deep Search, and Grok so far has provided incredibly fast data, highly detailed and impeccably sourced, in this case from sate and federal published data it both quotes and summarizes in detail, the average Mississippi tax payer paid about $1,336 in 2024. 0.25% of that would be a $3.34 reduction in annual income tax paid per taxpayer.
In sum, based on those a**umptions, the impact tax-wise on the average taxpayer would be a net reduction of about $93 a year. I suspect the grocery tax reduction would be considerably more than with the a**umed example amount.
Since ~40-45% of Mississippians pay no state or federal income taxes, I think it safe to a**ume they would have a net reduction also, the reduction a much greater percent of their disposable income than the average taxpayer, thus a relatively massive gain for those living on meager incomes.
Read on for a superficial glimpse at how you can otherwise consider the impact on all Mississippi taxpayers. I’ve left out untold secondary effects, most all good to excellent, that will almost certainly ensue. On one thing most of us can agree, government takes too much of our money for too much waste, graft, and inefficiency. We are better stewards of our own money than the state or federal government has ever been.
The income tax applies to the entirety of one’s adjusted gross income, and for a large number of Mississippians, a significant amount if income is not taxed, i.e., Social Security, withdrawals from PERS and other such qualified retirement plans (almost all of them). Also not taxed are many if not most or all income from government a**istance programs, be they food or food aid, subsidized housing, Medicaid, SSI, and other social welfare programs programs. Nearly half of Mississippians pay not state or federal income taxes, masking this a non-issue for their tax bill total.
The facts are clear from years of experience that states which lower and/or eliminate their income taxes enjoy much greater job and income gains for their citizens than high tax ones. That’s why this tax reduction was done, and it’s a good start for a number of taxpayers, and I think a an excellent chance to attract more and better-paying jobs to our wonderful state. For now, more money for every tax-payer to live on and an impetus for the state to more carefully spend our tax moneys.
The grocery tax reduction is a significant amount of money transferred from state government’s pockets and control, into the pockets and control of every Mississippian. Most of us spend a considerable amount more at the grocery than we did 4 years ago, food inflation having been a massive tax increase under another disguised name. Few would argue this reduction is of great benefit to most Mississippians, most especially to those struggling to feed their families.
The average number of miles driven by each driver is often quoted as 15,000 per year. Gas prices have come substantially down under Trump as compared to their skyrocketing under Biden. Biden’s crew hate fossil fuels and severely restricted and shrunk our national capacity to produce them. Trump strongly supports expansion of fossil fuels with the aim of restoring our energy independence with expansion rather than restriction of production. Whether you side with Biden or Trump on this issue, the facts are clear. Make more of something and the price will drop, less and it will rise, a**uming constant demand. OPEC has for our lifetimes been in control of gas prices at the retail margin by increasing or decreasing the amount of oil as needed to maintain a price at the pump that suits and supports their aims. When we no longer need them, they will lose control of our prices, and the health of our economy will largely dictate our gas prices.
To us here in Mississippi, a**uming for round numbers an average of $3 a gallon and 15 miles per gallon average (probably a little lower than reality.), driving 15,000 miles a year would cost $3,000 a year. A 3 cent a gallon increase is a 1% tax increase, not a 3% one, and its net impact is only $30 more per year. Whatever the price per gallon, 1,000 gallons a year x 3 cents will still be only 30 bucks a year, two and a half bucks a month. A pittance compared to the significant reductions in income and grocery taxes.
Apply the rate reductions to your own expenses for each of these taxes, and you’ll understand the impact on you. I can guarantee, sight unseen, that you and pretty much every Mississippi taxpayer will have an appreciable reduction in your tax burden, mostly for now due tot the reduction in grocery taxes. Income tax rates and gas taxes yield on average a negligible impact on average to individuals but augur well for a future Mississippi more prosperous and on better and more roads.
Mary Beth
July 1, 2025 at 12:59 PMGood
Marie
July 1, 2025 at 10:10 PMWhy tax food in the first place? The prices are high enough as it is just to purchase food to eat. I can see taxes on non-food items and fast food.