LA SPECIAL SESSION-BUDGET PANELS - Yesterday was Day 1 of the Louisiana Legislature's Special Session but there were no votes made despite having just one week to tackle the pending $1-Billion Dollar-Plus fiscal cliff that happens when the 1-cent sales tax expires at the end of the month. Instead there were budget panel hearings to go over familiar territory. A move that Chairman Cameron Henry (R-Metairie) defended as he explained to public radio WRKF.
"We're spending time going through the motions when we could be focused on negotiating a compromise that will actually fund the priorities we've already clearly expressed we have," he explains. Multiple sales tax bills
are being floated to raise revenue. One penny in state sales tax expires at the end of the month, causing the state's financial crisis. Bills that would temporarily maintain ⅓ and ½ of the penny failed in past sessions.
On Tuesday, Rep. Paula Davis (R-Baton Rouge) offered up a plan that would fall in the middle, extending the state sales tax to 4.4 percent for five years.
"I'm hoping that's a compromise between Democrats and Republicans and that we can get this done and go home. It's still funding critical services, while still cutting government," she says.
