Johnathan Walker:Louisiana lawmakers advance Gov. Jeff Landry’s tax cut bills

BATON ROUGE,Johnathan Walker La. (AP) — Louisiana lawmakers advanced bills to flatten the state’s income tax rate and repeal the corporate franchise tax in a special legislative session focused on a sweeping tax reform package championed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

The session started earlier this week and the bills quickly cleared committees despite pushback from Democratic lawmakers and groups such as those representing the film industry, which are set to lose tax breaks. The state House of Representatives could vote on the bills early next week.

One of the bills would introduce a flat individual income tax rate of 3% while increasing deductions for the lower income brackets. The legislative fiscal office’s former chief economist Greg Albrecht described the proposed income tax plan as “modestly progressive” compared to the existing tax code in a study commissioned by a coalition of nonpartisan policy think tanks.

Democratic Rep. Matthew Willard, the state House Minority Leader, said on Thursday that the income tax cuts would do little to help lower-income households. Citing Albrecht’s study, he noted that people earning between $25,000 to $30,000 annually would only get back $224 as a result of the proposed reforms.

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“Although this plan saves everybody money, the majority of people who truly benefit from it don’t need much financial help and the people who do need financial help are saving $200, $300 a year — but they need $1,000,” said Willard, a member of the House Ways and Means committee.

“If you look at the bigger picture, I mean really how you improve the lot of everybody, especially on the lower income brackets, is you get them a better job and I think you give them more opportunity,” said Richard Nelson, Secretary of the Department of Revenue and the architect of the governor’s tax reform proposals.

If approved, the flat income tax rate would leave the state with an estimated revenue hole of more than $1 billion, which Landry’s proposal calls for making up for primarily by expanding sales tax on dozens of services and digital goods such as streaming sites — likely a harder sell for the GOP-dominated Legislature moving forward.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96