As the public conversation about tax incentives grows louder and lawmakers move ever closer to the term-ending fiscal session of 2015, pressure is building for a comprehensive tax study being overseen by Louisiana State University and partly underwritten by the state.
Headed up by Dr. Jim Richardson, an economist from the flagship university, the study will offer a thorough review of Louisiana’s tax structure and is already well underway. “Right now we plan to put out a summary of recommendations in early March,” Richardson told LaPolitics.
House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, who spearheaded the effort, said the summarized findings will likely be presented to a joint meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.
The full study will be released as a book over the summer, possibly published by LSU Press.
Richardson is staying mum on details, but said it’s likely that the recommendations will include some kind of plan for a common local sales tax base.
“In the end, that has to be the situation. The question is how to get there,” he said.
Internet sales and how to tax them will be an interesting addition as well, he added, and both sides of the ongoing incentives debate are offering their arguments.
“We should maybe put a moratorium on some of these exemptions because they tend to grow so much,” Richardson said.
There were early hints that the study might yield some ideas for the 2015 session, but now those involved believe it will serve as more of a guiding document for the candidates for governor to either plot a special session or plan for 2017, the next regular session during which tax policy can be introduced.
“I would be surprised if any of the suggestions are taken up during the next session,” Richardson said. “For starters the governor would need more time to look at them.”
This will be the second major tax study Richardson has overseen for the state. The first came in 1987, when almost all of the frontline gubernatorial candidates signed on to support its findings. A decade or so later into the 1990s some lawmakers were still using it as a blueprint for updating and changing tax laws.
Special session chatter on Common Core, budget
It’s probably not going to happen, according to House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, but lawmakers are talking about the need for two different special sessions ahead of the regular session that begins April 13.
With PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) exams scheduled for March, lawmakers are worried that they may miss an important opportunity to do something about Common Core.
“I would support it,” said Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, one of the leading opposition voices. “You won’t have all of those external issues to deal with like you see in a regular session.”
But other lawmakers who are in agreement with the need for a Common Core session contend they wouldn’t even know what to include in a petition to call it, or if the state is technically connected to the PARCC exams.
“I communicated with the administration about it,” said a lawmaker. “They didn’t exactly jump at the idea.”
On another front, Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, has initiated an official petition for a special session to be called to address budget issues. With a budget deficit of $1.4 billion and growing, he said the Legislature needs to get a handle on the situation before it balloons.
“Our deficit is increasing with the daily drop in oil prices and our reluctance to have oversight of the numerous exemptions is jeopardizing the financial security of our state,” Harrison said.
Kleckley responded: “Everything that Joe is asking for can be done in a regular session. I don’t see a need to call a special session, especially due to what the expenses would be.”
One Bollinger replaces another on Regents
The Bollinger family of Lafourche Parish not only has a growing legacy state in politics and shipbuilding, but also, as it seems, with education policy.
On the Board of Regents, 14 out of the 15 members are appointed by the governor to overlapping six year-terms.
Charlotte Bollinger was last appointed in 2008, which means she is rotating off. But Gov. Bobby Jindal announced last week that Chris Bollinger, the former president of Bollinger Shipyards (Ben Bordelon, the founder’s grandson, took over in late December), will be coming on.
Also added to the board was Claudia Adley, the vice president and co-owner of Pelican Gas Management and a partner with Adley Consultants. When policy fights erupt at the Capitol during her service, she’ll be able to turn to a very good friend, her husband, Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton.
Sure as shooting…
According to several sources, those who interviewed legislative candidate Blake Miguez for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s endorsement process this fall got a big surprise during the Q&A section.
The candidate in southwest Louisiana’s House District 49 is a champion speed shooter and has appeared on the History Channel’s “Top Shot.” When asked by LABI officials during the interview if he was packing, Miguez nodded his head and tapped at his waist.
“I wasn’t sure how this meeting would go,” he said to laughter.
Miguez, who lives in New Iberia, received the WestPAC endorsement, and qualified for the race last week. Also running is John Bering of Jeanerette, a fellow Republican.
They Said It
Angola Warden Burl Cain spoke to the Baton Rouge Press Club last week, telling reporters he has not yet made up his mind on running for governor. He also said this: “Haven’t done anything but to just be ol’ Burl.”-Cain, saying he has no idea who started the recruitment drive to have him run for governor “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10 foot pole.”- Cain, on marijuana legalization “It’s not 170 degrees. It doesn’t boil.” -Cain, on the temperature on Death Row and the related federal lawsuit “Angola’s just got its reputation… We’re just good to sue.”-Cain, on tort reform
Be the first to comment