Displaying items by tag: fiscal cliff

So, let the olympic-sized Louisiana legislative fiscal debate match begin! 

On Monday, the Louisiana legislature convenes at the state Capitol for another special fiscal session to make an attempt to fix, what we might call, the always-existing revenue hole fiscal cliff. 

Tomorrow, Governor John Bel Edwards is expected to call for a Louisiana legislative special session which would begin roughly seven days later, if things go as being reported.  Edwards had urged  the Republicans to come up with a plan to fix the roughly one billion dollar hole for the year starting July 1, 2018, or no session would be called.

They haven’t. Nonetheless, Edwards is left with little other choice. If they were to wait until after the regular session is complete, in the beginning of June, there would not be sufficient time for parents to plan for tuition, for schools to plan schedules and for hospitals to plan their respective budget which starts weeks later. 

The Louisiana capitol is ready to start its Louisiana Legislature tax chicken dance.  On one side of the floor are Governor, John Bel Edwards and democrats. On another side are fiscal conservatives.  And, in the middle are a group of lawmakers who believe the state is reaching a moment of urgency.

The question is—who’s going to take the first step and blink as the music is quickly getting ready to start?

Winter is still here. The Louisiana days are getting a little longer. The threat of another special session to plug a massive hole in the budget is getting closer. 

The mantra of fiscal cliff still fills the air as it has now winter after winter, year after year.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is going on a full-court radio press to push his side of the fiscal cliff.

Today, the Governor sent out the below summary of his administration hitting the airwaves:

by Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI)

Not sure if you have noticed or not, but there is something called the fiscal cliff looming in Louisiana. If you haven’t heard of it yet, sit tight, because you will hear a whole lot about it over the next few months.

The 2018 crisis will be filled with plenty of drama, finger pointing and inflammatory rhetoric. Every (former, current and future) politician will say it is the other (former, current and future) politician’s fault for the deficits and lack of agreement on the appropriate mixture of taxes and cuts to fill it.

Jim Brown, former State Senator, Louisiana Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner, knows a little bit about the term, “scrub the budget”. That was the term famously used by former Governor Buddy Roemer, who came from election nowhere in the final weeks of the gubernatorial campaign, to beat then-incumbent Edwin Edwards, Billy Tauzin, Bob Livingston and Speedy Long in 1987.

The "Fiscal Cliff" is upon us and is making news throughout the state as once again, Louisiana is looking at a roughly one billion dollar hole, if not much more.

How will the state solve the fiscal problem remains to be seen.  Below are two perspectives, one from the conservative organization, Pelican Post and the second from Louisiana Budget Project.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.  At least the Louisiana fiscal sky is in a tailspin, or so says Governor John Bel Edwards and a number of legislative leaders.  The hue and cry is for one billion dollars in new taxes along with significant fee increases.  Even the local papers are chiming in with headlines like “The fiscal threat is real to colleges” and about to “get real.”  What a poor taxpayer to think?

The war of words over how to deal with a budget deficit or otherwise in Louisiana annual parlance, the fiscal cliff, is mounting as the temporary sales tax comes to an end this week. The sales tax brings roughly one billion dollars into the state coffers. 

Today, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has taken to the press pulpit to argue that Republican moderates want a plan presented by their members but the fiscal conservatives refuse to present one, thus, a budgetary showdown that will result in major reductions in government spending.