The House Ways and Means Committee moves a series of tax relief bills for Louisiana businesses worth millions of dollars.
Chairman of the Louisiana Economic Recovery Task Force Jason Decuir says the state owes it to these businesses to lend a helping hand after many were ordered closed or limited for months.
“They were up, they were thriving, they were doing well, and they shut their doors to keep every one of us in here safe,” says Decuir.
Those relief bills took many forms including a suspension of the franchise tax.
Revenue Secretary Kimberly Robinson, speaking on behalf of the Edwards Administration, says passing and maintaining these tax cuts could unbalance the state budget for years to come.
“Changing the tax structure that we did put in place to get to stability is not one of the things that we envisioned doing in this special session,” says Robinson.
The AP reports the tax relief measures could cost the state 130 million dollars over the next five years were they to be passed and maintained.
Concerns were raised that the state just can’t afford tax cuts at a time when we’re seeing a substantial decline in revenue. Lafayette Representative Stuart Bishop disagrees.
“If you think the gap of 10.2 million is bad now imagine what happens when all of these people go out of business and decide to leave,” says Bishop.
The bills are headed to the House floor.