Expenses will go up this year

If you think you escaped April Fool’s Day setbacks this year, you are mistaken.

There are many things statewide in Louisiana that have already gone into effect that sets the stage for many months of expenses we did not experience in the past.

Our poor state, which actually is one of the richest in the Union when one considers our natural resources, has seriously fallen aback in revenue to pay the bills that will be confronting us in the future.

We are in a major setback in our state government meeting the expenses that lie ahead and threaten to put us in a hole financially during the months ahead.

And guess who is going to have to pay it?

The taxpayers.

Sinners will have to pay more for their cigarettes, beer, wine and liquor. But taxpayers in other states already pay more for those items.

The big item backwards in future well-being is the passage of a “clean penny” in extra sales tax we will have to pay in upcoming months.

That will not apply to food for the household, residential utilities or prescription drugs but will to most other items needed for normal day living.

This gives Louisiana the highest sales tax in the nation at 10 percent on residents for everyday purchases.

Businesses will also pay the extra sales tax on purchases made to provide products for sale to the public.

This year’s state fiscal budget runs out June 30 and a new fiscal budget will begin July 1.

The new taxes will continue in the new budget unless the state can reduce its costs to reduce its previous expenses.It’s a wonderment to our state citizens as to why our state should have to have the highest sales tax in the country to begin with considering the natural resources we possess that can provide income to our government.

We have a new government at hand and our officials need to work out a solution to our fiscal difficulties which have arisen in the past few years.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has been active in facing our fiscal problems so far and apparently they are not that easy to erase.

He and the legislature have a big job ahead which apparently will not be that easy to solve.

But with the growth and prosperity of Louisiana in recent years, there should be some ways to solve our problems. And we feel our government and people who guide can do so.