A number of Louisiana Legislators told a gathering of about 50 business leaders in Monroe on Monday that they must support lawmakers when they begin eliminating tax credits and rebates that benefit their companies’ bottom line in the session that begins April 13. The lawmakers say the cuts to incentives are needed if slashes to higher education funding are to be mitigated.
“We’ve tried tax amnesty and tax incentives, and it hasn’t worked,” The News-Star quotes state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, as saying. “We’re going to have to cut back on tax incentives and giveaways. This is going to mean some of you aren’t going to like that, but we can’t afford it anymore. You can’t just come to us about what the universities don’t have and expect us to flip a switch. You have to back us up.”
The meeting, convened by the Monroe, West Monroe-West Ouachita and Ruston-Lincoln chambers of commerce, began with testimonies from business people to the lawmakers about how important higher education was in providing graduates to their companies.
Representatives of CenturyLink, the largest public company headquartered in Louisiana, and statewide insurer Vantage Health Plan were among those who spoke to support higher education. Mayors from Monroe, West Monroe, Ruston and Natchitoches also made a plea for lawmakers to save higher education while Louisiana Tech University President Les Guice and University of Louisiana at Monroe President Nick Bruno looked on.
Monroe Chamber President Sue Nicholson told lawmakers she believed her board and the state business community will be willing to consider support for some tax credit reform.
“We hear what you’re saying, and we’re looking for solutions,” she said. “We know there will be some things we don’t like, but for the benefit of the state we’re willing to do that.”
State Sen. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe, acknowledged the session “could be a tug of war between higher ed and business.”
On Monday afternoon, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry was already pushing back against one budget proposal. In a column on the association’s website, LABI President Stephen Waguespack writes in opposition to repealing the inventory tax credit. Instead, he advocates repeal of the inventory tax itself.
The News-Star has more coverage on Monday’s meeting in Monroe. Read Waguespack’s complete column. Speaking to the Press Club of Baton Rouge on Monday, Louisiana Higher Education Commissioner Joe Rallo said the higher education community must band together with the business community to find solutions for Louisiana’s workforce needs, and not fight over dollars during the budget crisis.
