Daily Dime

Last fall Louisiana voters decisively rejected a constitutional amendment that would have made it easy for large manufacturing corporations to secure sweetheart tax breaks from local governments. Now Louisiana lawmakers are trying again to make life easier for the petrochemical industry.… Read more...

The chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee has a bill that would eliminate a wide array of corporate tax breaks. But an avalanche of opposition from business lobbyists stopped House Bill 444 in its tracks on Wednesday, signaling how difficult it will be for lawmakers to rewrite Louisiana’s tax structure in a “revenue neutral” fashion.… Read more...

The Louisiana State Senate Committee on Revenue & Fiscal Affairs has taken its first step toward a kind of tax reform, reports Tyler Bridges of The Advocate, passing Senate Bill 159 favorably onto the floor. This bill is part of a package that would eliminate the state’s unusual federal income tax deduction while also reducing the top income tax rate from 6% to 5%.… Read more...

Gov. John Bel Edwards’s State of the State address, delivered Monday as the Legislature kicked off its two-month session, focused on addressing the inequities exposed and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Some policies, like boosting the state minimum wage, failed in previous years because of a lack of support from lawmakers.… Read more...