Posts filed under Taxes

Citizens for Louisiana Job Creators: Fake News Alert - The Daily Advertiser

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In a pathetic attempt at journalism, the editorial staff at the Daily Advertiser is the latest news organization to partake in shamelessly biased writing.

The paper recently published an article blaming Speaker Barras for the problems the state is facing. This is an outrageous accusation and calls into question the credibility of this "news organization."

At a time when Louisiana has raised the most taxes out of any state in the previous year, Barras should be applauded for taking a stand fighting back against tax increases and passing a fiscally responsible standstill budget.

The Daily Advertiser should get their facts straight and Speaker Barras should be thanked for his conservative service to the people of Louisiana.

This is precisely why people don't trust the media.

 

STONECIPHER: Governor Edwards: Honor Louisiana's Taxpayers

Photo source: KPEL 96.5

Photo source: KPEL 96.5

 June 19, 2016


No matter anything else, many Louisianans believed John Bel Edwards would shoot much straighter with us than did ex-Governor Bobby Jindal. It gives me no pleasure to say that he is busily proving us wrong.

Our governor's already infamous tax-and-spend war against Louisiana's bedraggled taxpayers is anything but straight-up, regardless that his campaign portrayed him as honor-bound by his military code to so act. 

Many a fact and truth clearly debunk the governor's most basic assertions about Louisiana's financial condition. Although it is tempting to accuse him of taking advantage of a "crisis," such assumes there even is a crisis. 

Our here in the real world where Louisiana's tax payers live, labor and, well, pay taxes, basic facts - truth - instead expose tax-and-spend dogma, not a crisis. 

A key such fact is this:  with "only" the $2 billion in new taxes Governor Edwards has already authored and the state legislature raised, core state spending, after adjustment for inflation, is already set to be +23.8% higher than only 11 years ago.
The Numbers

Louisiana's budget and spending for fiscal year 2004-2005 is the perfect baseline for such analysis. As that spending ended, Hurricane Katrina hit, followed during the period since by Hurricanes Rita, Gustav and Isaac, the Great Recession's "Obama Stimulus" windfall, and the BP disaster.

... Louisiana's core, general fund budget for fiscal 2004-2005 was $6.8 billion (here). Adjusted for inflation, that is equivalent to $8.4 billion today (calculator here).

... Our comparable general fund budget for the current, now ending, 2015-2016 fiscal year is just over $9.0 billion (here).

(The exact amounts are $8,360,420,415 in 2004-2005, inflation-adjusted, and $9,042,826,000 in fiscal year 2015-2016.) 

... That is a real increase of $682,405,585, or +8.2% in core state spending since 2004-2005, before any new taxes.

... A bedrock fact in all of this should be population growth rather than partisan political whim. Between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2015, our population grew a very weak +3.3% ... from 4,523,628 to 4,670,724 (data here and here). Now, it may well be dropping. 

... An on-going drop in Louisiana government employees should greatly impact any need for more spending. A go-to Associated Press article from 2014 (here) - still applicable I am told - explains this simply:

"Today, thatworkforce (of 93,500) hovers at 62,000 employees - fewer than it's been in more than two decades. Spending on payroll has decreased by about $1 billion annually."


With $2 Billion in New Taxes Already Raised, Edwards Threatens Doomsday 
Using ages-old tax-and-spending doomsday hokum,our governor bangs the table saying he MUST have another $800 million in new taxes in the five final days of the special legislative session. 

Bullfeathers. As explained, the $2.0 billion in new taxes already raised is +23.8% higher than in fiscal 2004-2005. Since then, Louisiana hauled in some $160 billion in extraordinary, never-budgeted revenue - over $140 billion from Hurricane Katrina alone. When that gusher of money ended, many programs - and much spending - remained in place. 

That is our problem ... it is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. That gusher significantly grew state government, and Governor Edwards & Friends are hellbent on locking it in with fiscal madness. 

An honorable state budget would match spending to available, existing revenue. 

Nothing in Louisiana is more endangered than a tax payer. State government has called the dance as 558,000 of us - net - moved away since 1985. Those remaining pay Louisiana's bigger and bigger tax-and-spend band. 

Governor Edwards does not care. If he did, he would honor tax payers.

Elliott Stonecipher


(Elliott Stonecipher does this work pro bono ... no compensation of any kind is solicited or accepted. He has no client or other relationships which in any way influence his selections of subjects or the content of any article. Appropriate credit to Mr. Stonecipher in the sharing - unedited only, of course - is expected. The use of his work without such credit to him is unethical and will not be quietly accepted.)


Boustany Continues Fight against IRS Overreach

(Washington, DC) – Dr. Charles Boustany (R-Lafayette) supported passage H.R. 5053, the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act introduced by Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL). The bill prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from requiring a tax-exempt organization to include the name, address, or other identifying information of any contributor in annual returns.

 Boustany spoke in support of H.R. 5053 on the House floor today.

Speaking on the House floor in support of the bill, Boustany said: “Back in 2012 when I was Oversight Subcommittee Chairman on Ways & Means, I started the investigation into the IRS’s unconstitutional targeting of conservative groups for their political beliefs… Taxpayers deserve to know whether the IRS is violating their privacy. This bill furthers that effort by preventing the IRS from targeting non-profits, prohibiting the agency from collecting the identity of donors who contribute to these organizations.

“The IRS still operates under the shadow of a scandal in which it admitted to targeting organizations based on their political beliefs… To successfully carry out its mission, the IRS must be viewed as an unbiased arbiter of the law. It cannot do that without coming clean. H.R. 5053 is a necessary step to require more accountability and transparency at the IRS, and I urge my colleagues to support this critical bill.”

Boustany launched the original investigation into the IRS as Chairman of the House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee after conservative groups approached him with complaints of unlawful targeting by the agency. Boustany authored three bills to bring greater transparency and accountability to the IRS that passed the House in 2014. The bills are:

Ø  H.R. 5418: Prohibiting officers and employees of the IRS from using personal email accounts to conduct official business.

Ø  H.R. 5419: Providing a right to an administrative appeal relating to adverse determinations of tax-exempt status by the IRS of certain organizations.

Ø  H.R. 5420: Permitting the release of information regarding the status of an investigation to aggrieved individuals or organizations.

 

Posted on June 15, 2016 and filed under Charles Boustany, Taxes.

Louisiana Family Forum: Edwards' Tax Gets Second Shot!

Photo source: Louisiana Family Forum

Photo source: Louisiana Family Forum

From LFF 60-Second Brigade Alert System
June 2016

Last week, the The House Ways and Means Committee voted 11-10 to stop a key aspect of the Edwards' tax plan.

On Wednesday, the committee will again vote on an identical measure, HB38 by Rep. Malinda White (D) of Bogalusa.

The fiscal note on the bill indicates it would cost taxpayers $643 million over 5 years.

The Agenda indicates the measure is "Subject to Rules Suspension."  This should indicate that a 2/3 majority of House members present must vote for suspending the rules in order to consider this new tax proposal.

It's no secret that the Governor has been individually lobbying members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, trying to persuade them to flip favorable on their vote.

If you think $643 million in new taxes on the shoulders of middle Louisiana is too much, then now is the time to speak up. HB38 is a short bill, so read it carefully.

Here's what it does: HB38 empowers the state to eliminate a percentage of federal itemized deductions from individual state taxes. The deductions that would be dramatically reduced include:

  • Federal Taxes Paid,
  • Medical Expenses,
  • Charitable Donations, and
  • Mortage Interest.

Contact House members of the Ways and Means Committee here and express your concern!.

Boustany Can Lead on Corporate Tax Reform

Photo source: US House

Photo source: US House

Oil & gas and manufacturing jobs could be the first to leave Louisiana and the U.S. altogether if we don’t reform our corporate tax rates. We already have a 35 percent corporate tax rate in the U.S. – the highest in the developed world – and in order to keep companies here, we need to implement common sense corporate tax reform.

Andy Puzder writes a good column about the problems and why we need to reform corporate tax.

Louisiana’s own Congressman Charles Boustany is well positioned to take the lead on this issue as a senior member of the U.S. House tax writing committee.

Posted on March 22, 2016 and filed under Charles Boustany, Taxes.

Americans for Prosperity - Louisiana Release "Enough is Enough"

Photo source : YouTube  

Photo source : YouTube  

AFP Louisiana has responded with the below video regarding the decision by Gov. "Honor Code" to seek higher "sources of revenue" (more of your money) to solve the budget mess that he personally took part in while a member of the Louisiana Legislature. 

Louisiana AFP Releases Legislative Scorecard and New "Crickets" Commercial

Photo source: LouisianaScorecard.com

Photo source: LouisianaScorecard.com

Louisiana's Americans for Prosperity released the following by email today, which included the above commercial now being aired on radio throughout the State of Louisiana:

As you know, we worked hard all Summer to knock on your neighbors' doors and let them know what their lawmakers did in Baton Rouge this year. They raised taxes on Louisianans by over $700 million. They supported a scheme that could usher in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion into the state under the next administration. It was shortsighted, and it's not the way to fix our spending problem. 

Additionally, the legislative voting record on these taxes can be found at LouisianaScorecard.com.

Posted on October 2, 2015 and filed under Louisiana, Taxes.

LABI Issues Their 2015 Legislative Scorecard

It's apparent that the votes cast by the legislature in the recently completed 2015 session did not sit well with LABI, as referenced below from their 2015 report.  A large majority of those in Baton Rouge have scored an "F" on this report; many of those were considered fiscally responsible Republicans and quite of few of these lawmakers are up for re-election this fall. 

It seems that voting to support $600 million in tax increases upon the citizens and businesses of the State of Louisiana is not a very good idea after all.

Posted on July 15, 2015 and filed under Louisiana, Taxes.

Americans for Prosperity Louisiana Release Scorecard on Legislators

Americans for Prosperity Louisiana have come out with what they've termed the Louisiana Scorecard, which provides information on the voting record for our elected officials in Baton Rouge following the recent session.  The scorecard can be accessed here and the above radio ad is being released throughout the state.

Posted on July 7, 2015 and filed under Louisiana, Taxes.

Joel Robideaux Defending Tax Raising Decisions in the Recent Session

Photo source: NOLA

Photo source: NOLA

For a man that is running as a conservative, low tax candidate in the upcoming election for Louisiana Parish President, Joel Robideaux is showing his true colors when it comes to that very issue. 

Robideaux has come out stating that legislators that supported raising taxes on the citizens of the State of Louisiana should be able to stand on the decisions made in the recent session.  This same candidate for Louisiana Parish President took the unprecedented move to increase taxes in the legislature without a 2/3 vote and by an interpretation by the Louisiana Attorney General back in 1993.

Lafayette Parish, be wary of the wolf in sheep's clothing when he comes in the fall looking for your vote.

Read more: Tax committee chairman: Lawmakers handled budget responsibly

Posted on June 16, 2015 and filed under Louisiana, Taxes.