taxes

In February of this year, Bobby Jindal presented to the lege the State Operating Budget for the current fiscal year. The total was $24.2 BILLION. The budget contained NO additional CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

When the leges finished going over the State Budget, by June it had ballooned-up to $26.9 BILLION; plus it contained significant CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

In other words, the leges added $2.7 BILLION to the budget but reduced funding to Healthcare and Higher Education.

In addition to the additional cuts to Higher Education, the leges increased the tax on college students and their parents.

It gets worse.  The current budget contains $2.8 BILLION in non-recurring revenues; meaning the funds will not be there at this time next year.

To put the non-recurring figure into perspective, it will require doubling the state’s 4% Sales Tax (8% plus local taxes) to replace those revenues.   Or the leges could increase the State Sales Tax to 7% plus reimpose the Stelly Tax via the Personal Income Tax.

Finally, for the really bad news; the governor and leges all know the above, but they have no plan to address the fiscal crisis or its impact on our economy and there is nobody even working on a solution.

C.B.