JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Mississippi lawmakers plan to find a long-term solution to fully fund the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS). In the last decade, the legislature has approved several major tax cuts, which has one lawmaker asking, “Why cut taxes before paying the state’s bills?”
PERS will be a top priority for lawmakers when they return for the 2026 session.
“We have a legal obligation to pay these retirement benefits to people who are retired or people who are going to be retired,” said State Sen. David Blunt (D-District 29).
House Speaker Jason White (R-Miss.) formed a special committee to find ways to close a funding gap of more than $26 billion.
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“PERS ain’t going broke next year. I’m worried about 10, 20, and 30 years from now,” White said.
He said the House is considering new revenue sources, including mobile sports betting.
“If mobile sports betting is the terrible, awful thing that the Senate says it is, well, I don’t really know what they say, because they just killed the bill quietly in committee without so much as a conversation. Whatever their reason is, if that’s not the thing, what is the thing?” questioned White.
Blount, who serves as the Senate Gaming chair, said mobile betting wouldn’t make a dent in the state’s retirement debt.
“Whether we pass mobile sports betting or not, that would take 1,350 years to pay down that liability. What these people ought to be doing is remembering that they just eliminated the income tax, which wasn’t $20 million a year, it was more than $2 billion a year,” he said.
Blount said the Legislature has passed three tax cuts in the last 10 years. He argued that without those more than $3 billion in cuts, the state could have covered much of PERS’ shortfall.
The tax cuts approved in 2025 alone will cost about $2 billion in revenue once fully phased in.
“We should not phase it in. We should stop it. And if we do that, it’s not going to raise anybody’s taxes. It’s just going to pause future tax cuts. We shouldn’t have any more tax cuts until the retirement system is stabilized,” said Blount.
He said legislative leaders have known for years that PERS needed more funding, but they chose not to address it.
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