Times-Picayune endorses tighter restrictions on payday lenders
The Times-Picayune devotes its lead editorial in Friday’s editions to endorsing legislation that would cap interest rates on payday loans. “Louisiana has many residents who live under financial stress,” the newspaper writes. “Our state has more residents working low-wage jobs and with limited access to banks than the nation as a whole, according to a report by United Way of SELA. Louisianians are more likely to be uninsured and less likely to have savings than other Americans, according to the United Way report. And on and on, Louisiana residents face numerous financial difficulties. To layer exorbitant and unaffordable loan fees on top of that is cruel — and works against financial stability.” The newspaper notes that Sen. Ben Nevers of Bogalusa and Rep. Ted James of Baton Rouge are sponsoring bills to cap annual interest rates at 36 percent, which it calls a “vast improvement.”

For more information about predatory payday lending, check out a page devoted to the issue on LBP’s website.    

President’s budget strengthens Louisiana’s Earned Income Tax Credit
Almost 200,000 Louisianans would benefit from an improved Earned Income Tax Credit, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Expanding the credit to low-income adults without children would help promote work and lift people out of poverty. According to a new blog by LBP policy analyst David Gray, President Obama’s latest budget “also will significantly help low-income working families with children by making important improvements to the EITC and CTC permanent. These improvements, first enacted in 2009 and set to expire in 2017, have made more low-income working families eligible and boosted the credit for many others. In 2013, 231,482 Louisiana families benefited from these improvements, and each year between 2009 and 2012 they lifted an average of 27,800 Louisianans, including 16,900 children, out of poverty.”

Lawmaker proposes constitutional amendment to protect higher education funds
As Louisiana has struggled to balance its budget in recent years, the state’s colleges and universities have shouldered more than their share of budget cuts. But a new constitutional amendment proposed by Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger would not allow those cuts to be “whitewashed” with increases to tuition. “(The governor) won’t like it,” Leger said, referring to his proposed amendment. He said he expected the fight over the bill with Jindal supporters would be “difficult,” adding he sees the legislation more “as a starting point” for a wider conversation on the need for increases in state funding for higher education.

While the goals of the amendment are laudable, LBP Director Jan Moller tells the newspaper that lawmakers should focus on growing the revenue pie instead of erecting more barriers that tie the hands of the Legislature.

Moviemakers flock to Louisiana for generous taxpayer subsidies
Thanks to generous support from state taxpayers, more feature films are being made in Louisiana than any other state. This is because Louisiana has the most generous film incentive program in the country, as taxpayers pay one-third of the production costs for these films. In 2011, that meant $231 million that couldn’t be spent on health care, education, transportation and other drivers of a strong economy, that was instead given to out-of-state movie producers who provide a three-month boost to Louisiana’s economy and return about $1 for every $7.29 Louisiana gives them.