A plan to study repealing state personal income taxes needs to be broadened, says the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Adam Knapp, BRAC president and CEO, says the language of the resolution is “insufficient and potentially harmful to economic development.” Knapp says the chamber is opposed to current plans to repeal the tax, which generates $2.4 billion annually for the state, because there is no plan for replacing the revenue. The proposal calls for making up the resulting lost revenue with repeal of tax exemptions and credits. Knapp says the role of the State Commission on Revenues and Expenditures, a panel created in the legislation to look at ways to replace some of the revenue as taxes are phased out, needs to be broadened. “As currently constructed, the SCORE would look at the removal of the personal income tax and the offset of it with potential reduction/elimination of exemptions and tax credits as well as the recommendations of the streamlining commission,” Knapp says. “That limited analysis and focus has the potential to put Louisiana in a worse competitive position for economic development.” SCORE should look at full tax reform, he says.
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