forgotston.com

Lege wishful thinking

The House-passed version of the State Operating Budget spends $200 Million in revenues from a tax amnesty plan to replace non-recurring revenues.

The new money generated from the amnesty plan most likely will also be declared non-recurring revenues plus the plan hasn’t even passed the lege.

Historical background

Previously, the Revenue Estimating Conference (“REC”) has not recognized amnesty revenues for expenditure until after they were actually received. Nor has the REC declared such revenues to be recurring and thus not eligible to be spent in the State Operating Budget.

Tuesday, Dr. Jim Richardson the LSU economist on the REC told Tyler Bridges of The Lens that he considers the revenue from the proposed plan as “non-recurring” revenue.

All decisions by the REC must be unanimous.

In 1995, Richardson refused to recognize as recurring the one-time payment from the land-based casino in New Orleans. Then-governor Edwin Edwards had the lege pass one-time legislation to allow a 3/4′s vote of the REC to recognize the money as recurring. The leges could always try that.

Bad public policy

It’s bad public policy to offer a tax amnesty plan only four years after the last one. Offering for consecutive years is even worse.

Worse still is that the leges propose to spend the amnesty revenues on recurring expenses.

Yet worse is that the revenues have been budgeted for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Bad timing

There is a good possibility that the revenues from the amnesty plan, assuming it is enacted, will not even be received during the upcoming fiscal year.

Even those of us who aren’t delinquent on our taxes usually wait until, literally, the last minute to pay them.

Today is the due date for our state income taxes. Most of us will mail our checks today. As they are postmarked today the taxes are considered to be paid timely.

The checks won’t be received by the state, at the earliest, until Thursday. Those from out-of-state payers may not arrive until next week.

Consider someone who hasn’t paid their taxes in years. Under the proposed amnesty plan, they have until June 30, 2014, to pay their past due taxes and avoid interest and penalties. When do you think they will pay their taxes?

That means the revenues won’t be available for expenditures until after the 2014 Regular Session ends.

Not only are the leges are counting they chickens before they hatch, they haven’t even acquired a hen.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am

Recently, as I was checking the lege website, it dawned on me how fortunate we are in Louisiana to have such transparency in the Legislative Branch of state government.

There is not a better, more user-friendly, governmental website in Louisiana and probably not in the nation.  It does everything, but ring one’s phone to announce a bill one is tracking is being debated.  They will probably add that soon.

If you haven’t used it yet, check it out here. You will get your money’s worth for your tax dollars spent on it.

Contrast with Executive

The lege site should be an embarrassment to the Jindal Administration which has gone backwards in the last 5 years in terms of transparency on every website in the Executive Branch. On many of their websites one cannot even determine the names of the top bureaucrats much less the names and contact information of the “worker bees.” Email addresses are virtually non-existent on the sites in the digital age.

Kudos to the lege staff who created and maintain the lege site.

Thanks to the LA leges who authorize such transparency.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am

What does he have to hide?

Saturday morning a friend of mine sent me an email asking about Rep. Joe Harrison’s effort on Friday, during the debate on the State Budget (HB 1), to delete all funding for the State Inspector General’s Office.

My friend asked: “What are they hiding?”

This is Harrison’s second attempt in as many years to abolish the office. Fortunately, good sense prevailed in the House and the amendment failed.

The vote

Here is a copy of the vote on the amendment.

A “Yea” vote is to delete all the funding for the I.G. A “Nay” vote is to keep the I.G.’s office funded.  An “Absent” vote, except in the case of Rep. Jeff Arnold, means your representative chose not to participate.

As presiding officer of the “Committee of the Whole”, Arnold is not required to vote, except in the case of a tie.

Action needed

If your lege was among the 31 who voted “yea” you may want to ask them what they have to hide.

Please let me know what you find out.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am