Louisiana’s economy works best when it works for everyone, regardless of race or ZIP code. With the Legislature beginning its two-month “fiscal” session last week, the Louisiana Budget Project is focused on ensuring that Louisiana has the revenue it needs to continue investing in its people and communities so that every family has what they need to reach their full potential.
Here are some of the top issues we’ll be focusing on over the next two months:
- Establishing or increasing tax credits for children and working families. As prices on necessities remain high and pandemic-era relief ends, it’s imperative that lawmakers use the tax code to help low- and moderate-income families to make ends meet.
- Creating a paid family and medical leave program in Louisiana. The United States is the only industrialized country to not offer these benefits to workers, leaving it to states to ensure this much needed support is available for families.
- Fighting against election-year tax cut schemes that could rip a hole in the state budget. Tax cuts would make it even harder for Louisiana to raise teacher pay, keep college affordable and make sure children and families have an adequate safety net when they fall on hard times.
- Establishing a minimum wage of at least $10 an hour, which would rise to $14 per hour by 2028.
- Lifting a constitutional cap on how much available money lawmakers can spend, to allow continued investments in rebuilding Louisiana infrastructure.
- Repealing an automatic “trigger” mechanism in state law that requires across-the-board tax cuts if state revenue grows above certain thresholds.
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