BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Republican lawmaker who sought to overhaul Louisiana’s tax laws, derided for their complications and loopholes, appears to have given up on most of the effort in disgust.
Baton Rouge-area Rep. Barry Ivey rebuked House colleagues Tuesday for their inaction on taxes, despite calls for tax reform to stabilize Louisiana’s finances and despite a looming budget gap when more than $1 billion in temporary taxes expire in mid-2018.
“We do not have the will to solve the problem,” he said.
Ivey spent months crafting bills to change a wide array of tax laws ahead of this year’s legislative session, after lawmakers indicated they wanted to spend this session working on revising Louisiana’s tax laws. But Ivey has been unable to gain the votes for much of his legislation in a majority-Republican House that has been reticent to support anything that might raise money.
“I will tell you this, I’m not coming back for a special session this year. I came to work this session,” Ivey said, his voice rising. He told his colleagues: “If we can’t do this now, we’re never going to do it.”
Legislative leaders and Gov. John Bel Edwards said they expect the House and Senate to return for a special session to address the budget gap some time before the taxes expire on June 30, 2018.
Ivey said he’s “seen zero evidence” that lawmakers are willing to redesign Louisiana’s tax laws to address the problems. He said if lawmakers don’t come up with some approach to deal with “the fiscal cliff,” their inaction would devastate public colleges and health care services.
Ivey’s proposals up for debate Tuesday would have levied a flat tax on businesses, getting rid of the varying income tax rates paid and doing away with companies’ ability to deduct the federal taxes they pay from their state returns.
The measures received the support of a majority of the House, including from House Speaker Taylor Barras and Republican House leadership. But the tax changes needed two-thirds votes to pass.
Lawmakers questioned changes Ivey made to the bills - and their financial impact.
Rep. Jim Morris, a Republican from Oil City who voted against both proposals Tuesday, said he didn’t consider those measures “tax reform.” He said one bill would have raised taxes charged on small businesses.
“I couldn’t vote for that,” said Morris, vice chairman of the House tax committee.
Morris said he understands Ivey’s frustration that his bills have languished.
But he added: “Tax policy to me isn’t as important as what my constituents want, and my constituents told me pretty solidly, ’Do not vote for more taxes on us.’”
Edwards, a Democrat, also proposed a package of tax changes, aimed at shifting more of the tax burden to businesses while also raising new dollars for the state treasury. Those bills went nowhere in the House.
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