Strange that a four-cent renewal of a cigarette tax would become one of the most important issues in the current legislative session, but that is the way it seems to be going in Baton Rouge.

It is partly politics, of course. Gov. Bobby Jindal doesn’t want to go against his promise not to raise taxes and he considers such a renewal to be a raise. So his plan this week was to veto it and expect the leges to uphold it.

Actually, he could have gone the other way and said he actually didn’t want taxes to be raised to a higher level than they have been. And then, the renewal would be okay.

At stake is a mere $12 million a year in revenue which may seem to be more than usual in this year of hard times. There are  more important issues in this legislative session.

Hopefully, the renewal or not will be settled quickly one way or the other so the administrative and legislative branches can continue running the state amicably in the best interest of the people, which they have done in the past. Let’s remember that a four cent tax is not the most important issue on the table.

State income tax still on the table

The legislature is again considering repeal of the state income tax. A tailored version of Senate Bill 259 which would phase the tax out in 10 years was introduced Monday.

Changes would no longer eliminate state corporate income taxes and would not tie the repeal in to action by a study committee.

Maybe Louisiana will join nine other states with no income tax with which to burden their citizens in the future. Bravo.

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