Matt Doyle | WWL.com
The Louisiana House Ways and Means will hear a bill Monday by Rep. Lance Harris (R-Alexandria) that would repeal the .45 percent state sales tax levied in the last legislative session to plug the 2018 budget deficit.
Rep. Dodie Horton (R-Haughton) says the nearly half-a-cent additional sales tax didn't just balance the budget, it produced a surplus.
"With the surplus, a $300 million dollar plus, and expecting another surplus, we do not need this money to operate," said Horton.
The state sales tax was four percent for many years before Governor Edwards took office, and in his first year it jumped to five percent to cover a significant budget gap, before falling to 4.45 percent last year. But Horton says census figures show our population is declining.
"It makes no sense to have more and more money from the taxpayers for a shrinking population," she argued.
State census figures indicate the population fell by 10,840 residents between July 2017 and July 2018.
Removing the .45 percent sales tax would likely mean cuts to state services, but Horton says Louisiana needs to learn to live within its means.
"Some days you might not be able to afford deli meat, or afford to have someone to clean your yard, you might have to do that yourself and cut back a bit to be able to maintain the standards that you live by," said Horton "We haven’t done that."