The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry fired back Tuesday to critics who have attacked business and industry during the special legislative session.
In a 1,253-word statement posted to the organization’s website, LABI says it wants to set the record straight about its involvement in helping the Legislature close the state’s massive deficit for this year and next. LABI and the sectors it represents have come under fire during this special session, as generous tax incentives that businesses have received have been targeted by some legislators as a key cause of the budget crisis.
“Over the past year, LABI has been at the table, seeking to offer solutions to state government,” the statement says. “A three-part research series created by LABI, Budget Basics, contains two-dozen recommendations for how the state can solve the deficit in a comprehensive manner by addressing spending, revenue, and the structure of the budget itself. Unfortunately, the session has largely focused on revenue generation with only a handful of items in the governor’s call applying to other means to resolve the problem.”
LABI says more than 20 bills in the past year that have either been signed into law or are expected to by the end of the special session have increased the tax burden on business. Those bills are expected to take $2 billion out of the economy by the end of 2018.
LABI represents more than 2,000 small and large businesses in Louisiana and has a powerful voice in state politics. However, the group feels it has been unfairly attacked in the past week as several legislators have accused LABI of being behind a push in the House to add another sales tax increase on top of the penny added earlier in the session.
The organization is also upset that no action has been taken to remove some statutory dedications from niche programs or that lawmakers have not taken steps to prioritize spending.
“LABI is proud to partner with chambers of commerce, trade associations and civic groups representing thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of workers. Louisiana’s employers are doing our part to help solve the problem, and in fact, we are one of the only groups at the table with solutions,” the statement says. “Local government, for example—the recipient of billions of state tax dollars annually—is largely absent from the conversation.”
