Louisiana’s perpetual budget problems are becoming the main focus of the governor’s race, with Republican front-runner David Vitter announcing today he immediately would call a special legislative session centered on the budget and taxes if elected.
The Associated Press reports that as Vitter revealed his intentions, the U.S. senator also took a swipe at Gov. Bobby Jindal for not doing enough to end the cycle of deficits and shortfalls. Vitter’s campaign says the special session would focus on the following: removing budget protections that leave public colleges and health services more vulnerable to cuts; reviewing tax breaks to determine if they benefit the state; and cutting other tax rates “to spur economic growth.”
“Gov. Jindal should be doing this now. I’ll do it the minute I’m sworn in,” Vitter says in a prepared statement. “We need to break out of this never-ending cycle of budget chaos and cuts to vital areas like higher (education).”
Jindal is term-limited in 2016. Besides Vitter, three other candidates have announced they’re running in the Oct. 24 election: Republican Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, Republican Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards.
While Vitter’s ideas were sweeping in scope, his announcement was short on details.
No specifics were given about the tax proposals, including whether the tax break review would be done with an eye toward scaling back the giveaways to generate more money for the budget or what tax cuts he’d like to see. Vitter campaign spokesman Luke Bolar didn’t immediately respond to follow-up questions from The AP, which has the full story.
