Report: La. families’ taxes to increase 5% if ‘fiscal cliff’ is not avoided

According to a new report released by the Tax Foundation, a conservative, Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the average Louisiana family will see its tax bill increase 5.23% as a percentage of income if the looming “fiscal cliff” is not avoided. That places Louisiana No. 16 on the Tax Foundation’s ranking of states projected to be most adversely impacted by the fiscal cliff. New Jersey is No. 1 on the list, with an anticipated 6.82% hike in taxes; Washington is No. 50, with an anticipated 4.12% tax increase. In coming up with the figures and rankings, the Tax Foundation says it used data from the U.S. census and the IRS to estimate income and deductions for the median two-child family in each state. The foundation then ran the average return through its online tax calculator using two tax scenarios: the 2011 tax law and the tax law that would go into effect in 2013, assuming tax cuts enacted under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are allowed to expire, and the Alternative Minimum Tax remains unpatched. The fiscal cliff is a series of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that will take effect in the absence of an agreement by White House officials and congressional Republicans and Democrats, who are currently negotiating a new budget deal to avoid the cliff. You can take a look at the Tax Foundation’s complete report on how the fiscal cliff would impact families in each state here.