A guest column by LBP Director Edward Ashworth, published in the June 22, 2010, edition of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, entitled “Reversing Stelly hikes was mistake,” reviews Louisiana’s current fiscal situation and how undoing the Stelly Plan by passing large tax cuts has left Louisiana with insufficient revenues to fund our needs. Here is an excerpt:
Louisiana’s wallet isn’t up to the job of meeting the state’s needs.
The reality? Louisiana needs a balanced approach to solving its fiscal crisis; that means finding new sources of revenue in addition to cutting costs.
The 2007 and 2008 Stelly rollbacks took away big chunks of the tax increases while leaving the tax cuts intact. Today, we’re left with insufficient revenue to support our needs, just in time for the oil spill.
