The Revenue Estimating Conference has agreed to dramatically lower the revenue forecast for the fiscal year that begins July 1st, which will mean at least a billion-dollar reduction in state spending next fiscal year. The Legislature’s Chief Economist Greg Albrecht says what is happening to the state’s budget outlook is unprecedented
Albrecht says he doesn’t see us recovering from this economic downturn anytime soon.
Those numbers are backed up by a report from the State Department of Revenue that indicates tax and fee collections for April were down 494 million dollars compared to last year. This has many legislators scrambling to figure out how to close the dire revenue drop off. Treasurer John Schroder believes raising taxes would make things harder on businesses…
Cut 5 (11) “…attention to that.”
This hour Governor Edwards will announced whether the stay at home order will be extended.
Louisiana continues to report slowly declining numbers of new COVID deaths and cases compared to this time a month ago. Total cases are up 215 to 31,815 and fatalities up 29 to 2,242.
Lawmakers are fighting over how to address both the expected budget shortfall, and the rapid collapse of the Louisiana oil and gas industry. One legislator, Ways and Means Chairman Stewart Bishop, has a resolution on it’s way to the full House that would suspend oil and gas severance taxes for a year, a plan that could cost several hundred million dollars. Bishop says we don’t have much of a choice.
New Orleans Representative Jason Hughes says his constituents do not believe the state can afford such a hefty tax cut right now…