tax policy

The Louisiana Senate is reining in several major proposals pushed by Gov. Jeff Landry and House conservatives, rejecting additional tax cuts and scaling back spending on private school vouchers amid caution over the state’s longer-term financial outlook.

After voters rejected an amendment on taxes, Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order Wednesday, imposing a hiring freeze on Louisiana’s executive branch in hopes to save the state $20 million.

Questions remain over whether teachers, school workers will see a pay reduction.

If passed, it would be the most significant revision of the state’s constitution since 1974.

Louisiana’s two largest teacher unions have come out in support of a sweeping constitutional amendment Gov. Jeff Landry has backed that would rewrite large swaths of the state’s public tax and budget policies. The measure will appear on the March 29 ballot.

A group of Louisiana voters filed suit against Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry on Monday, seeking to halt a vote on a state constitutional amendment scheduled for next month that would drastically change state tax law.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry got the Louisiana Legislature to back his bet of lowering individual and corporate income taxes to stimulate growth in the state.

The special session on tax reform is expected to wrap up Friday after lengthy negotiations over the last two weeks.

The goal of the session is to lower personal and corporate income tax rates and make Louisiana a more attractive place to live and do business. But the decrease in revenue for the state budget means sales taxes on more goods and services must be implemented and or raised.

If President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his campaign promise of no tax on tips, Louisiana lawmakers currently considering sweeping tax reform might have to go back to the drawing board.