The Louisiana Legislature failed to approve more personal income tax cuts during the session that will end on Thursday. Although the House approved measures to lower the state's income tax rate, state senators blocked those measures from advancing.
One legislative analyst expects lawmakers to try again--but not for a couple of years.
"2027 is probably the year where you might see more movement in that area," LaPolitics.com legislative reporter David Jacobs told WWL's Tommy Tucker. "2027 is a fiscal session. It's our next fiscal session. 2027 is also an election year."
According to Jacobs, senators killed this year's tax reduction efforts despite an okay state financial outlook.
"Basically, they said we're not quite sure if we're going to be able to afford this," Jacobs said. "Predicting revenue for the state involves some guesswork even in the best of times and especially when you've just changed a lot."
According to Jacobs, senators question how much revenue the new consumer service taxes that took effect in January will generate.
"They just made all of those changes last year, so they kind of want to see how things play out," Jacobs said.
Jacobs added that senators are also concerned about how much money the state will get from Washington.
"They also aren't quite sure what's going to be coming down from the federal government," Jacobs said. "The federal government pays almost half of the state budget, basically. They don't want to overextend the state, not knowing what the level of federal spending is going to be going forward."
