A handful of sales tax bills extending half of the expiring fifth penny in sales taxes have been filed for this year’s third special session, which starts once both chambers convene Monday at 4 p.m.
The same proposal was introduced unsuccessfully by Democrats last session, failing to make it to the governor’s desk. But this time, the half-penny bills are authored by members from both parties.
Two bills—HB 2 by Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia, and HB 3 by Rep. Kenny Havard, R-Jackson—extend half the expiring penny in sales taxes until 2025.
HB 4 by Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, meanwhile, would begin the extended portion of the penny at one half, gradually decreasing it to two-fifths and then one-quarter of a penny until 2025.
The bills are similar to what Landry, a member of the Black Caucus, sponsored and failed to move out of the Republican-dominated House Ways and Means Committee in the last special session. The governor-backed legislation was unpalatable to majority party members, who warned Landry before he had a chance to testify that it would not pass. Some even said it would never come to a vote, according to the author. It failed 6-11 along party lines.
Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, plans to file his own sales tax bill that he says will be similar, if not identical, to Landry’s HB 2. “I expect to be supportive of Terry’s bill as well,” Leger said, adding he wants the body to “have some options” on revenue measures.
This session, the seventh of its kind this gubernatorial term, is already contentious. It will revolve around the budget passed by lawmakers in the second special session, which Gov. John Bel Edwards signed after he vetoed a plan that they passed in the regular session.
Forced to balance with the amount of revenue currently on the table, the budget lawmakers passed makes cuts to higher education and prisons, among other entities. In the eyes of Gov. Edwards and members of his party, those cuts left a hole he hopes to fill with new revenue this coming week.
Some lawmakers, particularly those in the GOP, oppose any new taxes and have pledged to reduce “wasteful spending.”
It’s a narrow playing field, too, since the governor’s call limits legislation to sales taxes, sales tax exemptions and some technical changes to the budget bill’s language.
Jeremy Alford will publish a daily update throughout the legislative 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.
