Once again
our esteemed legislators have returned to the gambling table and used health
care and education to bankroll their habit.
They are
presently touting the fact that the reason they refused to deal with a total
tax restructuring in this state and instead passed a series of temporary tax
band-aids is due to the windfall of sales tax revenue they expect to receive
from on-line internet sales.
In reality,
as of January 1, 2017, the proposed flood of new revenue is only from one
on-line company that previously did not collect sales tax at the time of
purchase, namely Amazon. No one else joined the group.
It’s
reassuring to know that health care and education now hang in the balance based
upon yet another revenue calculation by a legislative body that hasn’t been
able to produce an accurate revenue prediction in over eight years. This
state has continually run out of money mid-year based upon the Capital’s
financial blueprints dating back to the 2009 legislative session.
Looking at
the deficit still looming from the last fiscal year and the one for this year,
Louisiana could be short over $600 million. At the 8% sales tax now being
collected from Amazon purchases, sales would have to total $7.5 billion to
validate our legislators’ claim that they have plugged the state’s current
deficit without the need for tax reform.
I seriously
doubt Louisianans spend $7.5 billion at Amazon each year. Consequently more
cuts will come for education and health care.
How long
will it will take for our Baton Rouge crew to stand up to the LABI, chemical,
petroleum, and gas lobbyists who presently dictate the tax policies of this
state? It’s been eight years, and they haven’t done it yet.
Soon the
band-aids that were passed last session will fall off and it will be
interesting to ponder the next fantasy our legislators will sow to claim they
finally permanently solved the financial problems of this state.
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