LBP Statement on Mid-Year Budget Cuts

(Baton Rouge – Dec. 14, 2012) Louisiana Budget Project Director Jan Moller issued the following statement in response to $166 million in mid-year budget cuts, savings and finance swaps announced today by the administration:

“The latest round of mid-year budget cuts is further evidence that Louisiana’s failure to consider new revenues means more pain for our most vulnerable citizens. Pregnant women and children, people with disabilities and mental illness, and dying patients in need of hospice care are being hurt while Louisiana continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year subsidizing Hollywood film producers, big-box retailers and others through the tax code. Enough is enough. We need a new, balanced approach that raises the revenue we need to fund critical services.”

 

The governor's plan will mainly benefit corporations and the wealthy, while working and middle-class families will pay more for services and products we use every day such as diapers, garbage collection, haircuts and home repairs. Louisiana’s tax system certainly needs to be improved, but this is the wrong way to do it.
Gov. Jeff Landry has called the Legislature into a special session to overhaul Louisiana’s tax structure.