The right-leaning Tax Foundation’s annual breakdown of state and local sales tax rates finds Louisiana third in the nation for the highest combined sales taxes. Currently, Pelican State consumers pay an average 8.87 percent, ranking behind Tennessee (9.44 percent) and Arizona (9.16 percent) and ahead of Washington (8.86 percent) and Oklahoma (8.67 percent) in the top five. The states with the lowest average sales tax burden are Alaska (1.69 percent), Hawaii (4.35 percent), Maine (5 percent), Virginia (5 percent), and Wyoming (5.34 percent).
The foundation’s analysis was released Monday, three days after The Advocate reported that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration showed state lawmakers a broad outline for repealing Louisiana’s personal and corporate income taxes and making up for the budget shortfall by hiking the state sales tax to 5.78 percent — a nearly 2 percent increase over the current 4 percent state sales tax. Jindal’s plan also includes hiking cigarette taxes by $1 and eliminating some tax exemptions.
If Jindal’s plan as reported is approved in the spring legislation session, Louisiana’s average state/local sales tax burden would rise to 10.65 percent, making it the highest in the nation.
Read the full report here.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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Jindal has indicated, through his Secretary of Revenue Tim Barfield, that certain STE's would not be repealed. Specifically, STE's exempted from repeal are food for home consumption($334 million), residential utilities($146 million), prescription drugs($239 million), fuel($371 million). These four exemptions amount to $1.090 billion dollars not available to replace lost income tax revenue, necessitating an increase of 1.63%/1.63 cents per dollar. Adding this figure to the 4 cents originally calculated results in an increase of 5.63%/5.63 cents per dollar increase resulting in a total sales tax rate of 9.63 cents(10 cents) per dollar of purchase. Suspiciously, Jindal has been silent on two STE's in effect that in all probability will not be repealed: state/local governmental purchases($203 million) and non-residential purchases of electricity($257 million). These two STE's total $460 million of exempt revenue not available for replacing lost income tax collections. An increase of 1 cent(1%) would be required to compensate for such lost revenue. In order to produce a “revenue neutral” increase, the current state sales tax would have to be increased by 6.32 cents(7RD cents)resulting in a total state sales tax of 10.63 cents(11 cents) per dollar of purchase.
However, Louisiana can not survive nor prosper in Jindal's “revenue neutral” world. In terms of revenue, Louisiana needs revenue more in line with 2008 levels, ironically Jindal's first year in office, to maintain and prosper. To produce such revenue the state sales tax would require a minimum increase of 8.51 cents resulting in a state sales tax of 12.51(13.00RD cents per dollar purchased.
For Jindal to “float” a sales tax increase of 2 cents is emblematic of his lack of comprehension and failure to come to grips with the fiscal condition facing the state. Had Jindal concentrated on maintaining the state's revenue levels as opposed to pandering to business concerns, Louisiana's financial condition would be in a far better condition, not requiring the decimation and degradation wrought on the state over the past five years.