Lawmakers deciding on bill to scrap income tax

The Louisiana Legislature is considering a bill that would phase out state income taxes.

SB 87 has been approved by the Louisiana Senate and is expected to be reviewed by the House Ways and Means Committee, possibly as early as this week.

 If passed, it would phase out the tax on incomes of individuals, estates and trusts, beginning in 2008 over a 10-year period. The taxes would be phased out at a 10 percent per year rate beginning in 2008, and the bill also “provides that certain refundable credits still are refundable even if there is little or no individual income tax.”

State Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, is co-author of the bill.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to give the people of Louisiana some of their money back, during a time of huge surpluses,” Hebert said.

Although she supports the reduction of individual income tax in principle, Rep. Simone Champagne, D-Jeanerette, said she would like to see more debate on this particular bill.

“I don’t have a position on it at this time, until I research all the information on both the bill and its attachments,” Champagne said.

The office of Gov. Bobby Jindal commented on the proposed bill.

“The governor always has and always will support tax cuts and is open to any proposals submitted by legislators,” said Melissa Sellers, press secretary for the Jindal Administration.

“That, of course, was the entire point of his second special session — cutting taxes to spur economic growth. The governor will continue to support additional conservative tax cut proposals that include accompanying spending cuts. It is fiscally responsible to cut spending to accompany tax cuts.”

Rep. Taylor Barras, D-New Iberia, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which will be reviewing SB 87, was unavailable for comment.