The republican controlled legislature passed a budget for Louisiana's fiscal year that begins July 1. It took three legislative sessions to handle the new budget and the one ending June 30. The regular session was squeezed between the two special sessions. The latest word out of Baton Rouge is we will find out if the budget that ended on June 30 is really balanced but not until around September when the state pays all its bills.
Will the present fiscal year budget that begins July 1 be balanced? We should have a good idea in about six months. But there are some things we know now. (1) The republican controlled senate worked with governor Edwards on many of the issues the governor wanted while the republican controlled house did not and in fact rejected the governor's call to reduce or change tax breaks for business. (2) TOPS will be funded at only 70%. (3) Taxes were raised and the K-12 school budget, prisons and sheriff's housing and juvenile detention and rehabilitation were all cut millions of dollars. (4) Corporate tax collections will be less than the tax breaks corporations receive from the state. (5) The republican controlled house used another budget gimmick when they insisted that TOPS be fully funded for the fall semester at 100% but then only at 40% for the spring semester. Which means they are really not serious about the TOPS program.
The bottom line question on the budget and the states fiscal affairs and how serious the legislators were in the three sessions are: (1) Will the fiscal year that ended June 30 and the current fiscal year that begins July 1 be balanced. (2) Did the legislators really find and or raise revenue that is recurring that can be counted on to fund present and future needs of the state and its people. (3) Budget cuts alone have never balanced a state budget so has the legislature found that out yet?
From all indications, governor Edwards is on top of what is needed to balance the budget and is well aware gimmicks should no longer be tolerated. This writer believes the governor will continue to push the legislature in the right direction to eliminate the unnecessary tax breaks given to business. The latest unemployment rate for Louisiana in May was 6.2%, much higher than the national average so where are the jobs the tax breaks are supposed to create that business always talks about?
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
