The Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee sent to the House floor today the policy linchpin of the special session—a one-cent sales tax increase. But committee members did so without actually taking a vote, advancing the bill under a procedural move.
The maneuver helps set the stage, with just 14 days left in the special session, for a pitched battle that will merge tax ideology, fiscal uncertainty and a whole lot of politics.
In all, committee members sent nearly three dozen tax bills to the floor for further consideration without ever casting a single vote. While it permits the representatives to say they haven’t voted for a tax this session, lobbyists for the businesses and industries that would end up paying more in taxes contend the committee did in effect advance one of the biggest tax increase packages in recent memory.
When Ways and Means Chairman Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, made the numerous procedural motions to send the tax bills to the floor, no committee members raised objections.
The House floor is now holding bills that would increase taxes on business utilities, cigarettes, alcohol, online purchases, car rentals, certain lodging accommodations, cellphones and land lines, among other proposed tax changes.
Abramson said toward the end of Tuesday’s meeting that timing, more than anything else, played into the decision to move the bills without a vote. He said lawmakers are being kept in the dark about what the current fiscal year budget and the one for next fiscal year will look like. “We can’t wait until the decisions are ultimately made,” he said, adding, “This wasn’t a willy-nilly process here today. It was very thoughtful. It was very meticulous.”
The chairman said the goal was to get the bills to the floor so every lawmaker could make their own decisions, and the committee’s actions do not represent support or opposition from its members.
But the most significant bill that was advanced was unarguably House Bill 62 by Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, which would add one penny to the state’s four-cent sales tax. It’s the centerpiece of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ special session agenda and would raise $220 million during the remainder of this fiscal year that ends on June 30 and $910 million for the next. It’s the quickest way lawmakers can raise the money needed to plug a set of budget holes that collectively top $2.9 billion.
Jeremy Alford will publish a daily update throughout the legislative special session on Daily Report PM. Alford reports on Louisiana politics at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
