Though Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed earlier this week he intends to call a special session immediately after the regular session to address the state’s revenue shortfall, it’s not at all clear if lawmakers will be in the mood to reconvene and talk about raising more taxes.
At a panel discussion this morning at the Public Affairs Research Council’s annual meeting, House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, said he agrees with the governor that “there will need to be continued discussion” about plugging the state’s estimated $750 million budget shortfall before the start of the 2017 fiscal year. But that doesn’t mean legislators will go along.
“What will the appetite be in June to have that discussion again?” Barras said. “I think there is some concern that the appetite to be supportive of new revenue measures isn’t there.”
In a special session earlier this year that immediately preceded the current regular session, lawmakers raised more than $1 billion in new, mostly sales, taxes. Those taxes only went into effect April 1, meaning taxpayers haven’t yet started feeling the effects of them.
By the time the regular session ends in June, however, those taxes will be three months old, and Barras predicts legislators will be getting an earful from frustrated constituents who will be paying sales taxes on everything from business utilities to garage sale transactions.
“I’m attempting to gauge the appetite because an unsuccessful session wouldn’t be a good thing,” he said.
Earlier this week, Barras began meeting individually with each member of the House to assess their mood and “walk through some of the options with them.” He says he doesn’t yet have a consensus for how they’re feeling.
Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, who joined Barras on the PAR panel, said the Edwards administration does not want to raise new taxes but really has no other alternative.
“This is a not a tax-and-spend Democrat who wanted to come in and raise taxes,” he said. “He had no choice.”
—Stephanie Riegel
