BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s GOP-dominated House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed individual and corporate tax cuts, along with a constitutional amendment — all key provisions in Gov. Jeff Landry’s sweeping tax reform package, the centerpiece of the state’s third special legislative session of the year.
The House voted 87-12 to flatten individual income tax to 3%, while increasing the standard deduction to $12,500 for individual taxpayers.
Pushback came entirely from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have argued that they consider the reforms to provide only token relief to lower-income households while leading to a $1 billion annual revenue hole.
Republican Rep. Julie Emerson, the bill’s sponsor, said the individual income tax cuts are necessary to spur economic growth, staunch outward migration and keep Louisiana competitive with nearby states like Florida and Texas which have no income tax.
Other bills, set to be voted on by the House later this week, would attempt to offset the proposed individual income tax cuts by ending a range of tax exemptions and expanding sales taxes across dozens of services, from dog-grooming to lobbying, as well as digital goods like Netflix and other streaming platforms. It would also make permanent a 0.45% sales tax and 2% business utilities tax that had been set to expire.