Today the Edwards Administration began detailing its tax proposals that will be debated during the special session. Governor Edwards recommends a combination of budget cuts and revenue raising actions as a way to solve the state’s budget deficit. State Department of Revenue Secretary Kimberly Robinson spoke to the House Ways and Means Committee about a proposed 1-cent state sales tax increase.
Robinson said the so-called “clean penny tax” would not apply to areas of exemption including groceries, residential utilities, prescription medications and gas.
As part of Governor Edwards plan to fix the state budget, he’s proposing roughly $160 million dollars in cuts. Edwards spoke with reporters following his opening remarks to lawmakers Sunday and said he’s leaving everything on the table…:
The current budget deficit is $957 million.
Former state lawmaker Troy Hebert provided suggestions on how to control government spending in a letter to lawmakers. Hebert says it is not fair to taxpayers for state workers to be paid for more work than they do. He believes using time clocks would resolve this issues.
Hebert’s other suggestions include stopping across-the-board cuts and changing state supervisor-to-worker ratios.
A published report says Nicholls State is considering closing its doors for 12 days because of a lack of state funds. Metairie Senator Conrad Appel is upset to see a headline that Nicholls plans to close, when that’s not the case…
Lawmakers have until March ninth to come up with a funding solution that would spare higher education from deep budget cuts.