MONROE, La (KTVE/KARD)—This year’s legislative regular session is fiscal, meaning taxes and budget will be two of the main topics. There will be some bills Louisianans will want to keep an eye on.
Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, explained in depth about the session. “The session this year is a fiscal-only session, which means the legislature is only supposed to look at items related to the budget, taxes, and fiscal items. Now each legislator can introduce up to five non-fiscal items, and they typically do that as well. In even-numbered years, the legislature has what’s called a general session, and they can focus on anything they want.”
Cross also explained House Bills 145 and 146. “Bills 145 and 146 are similar in the sense that they lower income tax rates to 4%, and that would be a flat 4%. Currently, both for corporations and for individuals, income tax rates are graduated so that the more you make, the more you pay. The reason they’re doing this is because it makes Louisiana a bit more competitive. So when companies are thinking about whether to locate in Louisiana or not, they’re not scared away by that higher percentage.”
Tara Daniel explains how she feels about these bills as a citizen. “I am not in favor of anything like that. I think for us, as citizens that live in our state, we need to keep our taxes as minimal as possible. I think that’s one of the things that helps our state and helps us stay a good society: to keep taxes low and not change things. I think it’s good to keep things the way they are.”
