Louisiana needs to enact a tax structure that is fair, predictable and “sufficient” to pay for state services, Gov. John Bel Edwards says as he looks ahead to next year’s legislative session.
Edwards and lawmakers are gearing up for a tax reform debate during the 2017 legislative session, a rewrite aimed at ending several cycles of budget woes. But as The Associated Press reports, the leaders who will be integral to crafting the plans and getting them passed into law disagree on what the term “reform” means—and whether they want to raise more money for government as they rewrite tax laws.
The governor suggests more dollars likely will be needed.
“We have to decide that we are going to pay for the government that we want,” Edwards said during said at the annual meeting of the nonpartisan Council for A Better Louisiana on Thursday. “And we’ve got to bring this into balance. The longer we wait, the greater disservice we do to our state.”
At the governor’s urging to balance the budget, lawmakers passed more than $1.5 billion in tax increases to fill gaps in this year’s nearly $28 billion state operating budget. But the tax revenue didn’t come in as high as expected.
Combined with blows to the state treasury from the slumping oil and gas industry, Louisiana is expected to have a shortfall topping $600 million to close this year.
