An income tax bill described as the linchpin towards reaching an overall deal to close a looming a one-billion dollar budget shortfall failed on the House floor this afternoon. Ruston Representative Rob Shadoin asked his colleagues to put aside party politics and vote for the legislation…
Failure of this legislation means its likely legislators will not be able to solve the fiscal cliff and hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts will be needed in state government. That means less money for TOPS, hospitals that depend on state money and higher education. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton…
Shreveport Representative Alan Seabaugh an outspoken critic of higher taxes spoke out against the legislation that failed today. Seabaugh says Louisiana residents are already paying higher taxes, because the federal tax overhaul changed Louisiana’s withholding tables, which means the state is collecting more tax money from its citizens..
The legislation would have increased state revenues by an estimated 79-million dollars. Seabaugh says the measure is bad tax policy….
Legislators have until March 7th to come up with a solution before the special session ends.