Right now, Louisiana legislators of both parties are, deep in negotiations as to how to avoid the approaching fiscal cliff. But some feel that a lot depends on what comes out of Washington regarding the Tax Plan pending. Appropriations chairman Cameron Henry, Republican from Metairie shared his views with Public Radio WRKF. "We have to make sure we really have all the specific details of what they're going to do in D.C., as well as what members are comfortable with here," Henry explains. "One of the problems we run into is we don’t want to change something here on the state level or agree to change something and have the feds
change something. We could get a few people to agree on one particular tax bracket change, or one particular deduction, but then the feds alter it at the federal level, and then we have to go back and change our plan again. And it's a complicated issue on a good day."
But some legislators But some don't see it that way. Rep. Walter Leger a Democrat from New Orleans and Speaker Pro Temp feels that state legislators should press on no matter what Washington does or doesn't do. He says "There are some impacts that the tax changes in Washington can have on our bottom line, especially because of the fact that we have the deduction of federal taxes paid here in Louisiana ; but for the most part, these solutions are not difficult," Leger adds "I hope that they're not looking for some new excuse to not do the things we need to do here in Louisiana, by citing what's happening in Congress."
All negotiations will come to a head as Louisiana's regular legislative session convenes March 12, 2018.
