Gov. Jeff Landry has issued a 23-item call for a special legislative session to begin Nov. 6 and end no later than Nov. 25. No. 1 on that list is to propose amendments to the state constitution dealing with a long list of taxes and related items.

The governor also wants to provide ways to approve permanent teacher and school personnel pay increases, eliminate the corporate franchise tax, reduce corporate and individual income taxes, eliminate tax exemptions, credits, and deductions and increase the income tax deduction for citizens 65 and older.

Legislation is on the agenda to deal with state and local sales taxes, the severance tax, ad valorem property taxes, and sales taxes for 40 activities that are presently untaxed. Tax incentives for economic development could also be eliminated.

Landry wants to expand the fortified roof program for policyholders with Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed property insurance company, and deal with abandoned oil wells.

Legislators expressed some surprise that Landry wants them to deal with juvenile crime issues and the state Supreme Court.

The Advocate reported that the governor and Richard Nelson, his secretary of the state Department of Revenue, have been holding private sessions with legislators to sell them on their plans.

Landry, in a column in that newspaper, said, “This plan works. How do we know? Well in 2013, North Carolina embarked upon real tax reform, like our plan, and went from 44^th to 9^th in their Tax Foundation ranking. Their median family income rose by $22,000, earning their families $11,000 more per year than families in Louisiana.”

A 0.45% percent increase in the state’s 4% sales tax that was approved in 2018 is supposed to go off the books on June 30, 2025, but Landry wants to extend it.

Landry wants to eliminate economic development tax breaks that he said produce a low rate of return on taxes. They include tax breaks for motion picture production in Louisiana, Enterprise Zones, Quality Jobs, Angel Investor, Rehabilitation of Historic Structures and a break for horizontal well drilling.

State Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, and chairman of the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee, said he is optimistic a large part of Landry’s plan will be approved but local officials have expressed some concerns. That comes as no surprise anytime legislators start monkeying around with local government operations.

Spokespersons for the Louisiana Sheriffs Association and the Louisiana Municipal Association also have some reservations.

Barney Arceneaux, executive director of the LMA, said, “We want to be assured that municipalities won’t take it on the chin.”

Earlier, Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, said, “I like what the governor’s trying to do. But the devil is in the details. If it’s done wrong, that will kill us for the next generation.”

Jan Moller is executive director of Invest in Louisiana that looks out for the interests of the state’s lower-income and economically disadvantaged citizens.

Moller has said, “Our tax system right now is upside down. Our overall tax burden ranks 43^rd in the nation. But our personal income tax rates are low while our sales taxes — state and  local combined — are the highest in the country. That’s unfair.”

Applying the sales tax to 40 services that haven’t been taxed will make life even harder for those citizens Moller’s organization looks out for.

Like others, Moller also said Landry’s plan is “very complex, very far-reaching. The constitutional changes alone are overwhelming.”

Legislators in 1992 after a constitutional convention rejected an amendment like the one in Landry’s Item 1 on the upcoming special session agenda. It is proposing amendments to the state constitution dealing with a long list of taxing and other changes.

Observers in 1992 said 62% of the voters rejected the first amendment on their ballot, which didn’t have a number, and six others just to be sure they killed the right one.

Voters also rejected a tax reform plan by the late-Gov. Buddy Roemer in 1989. They will be asked to approve Landry’s plan on March 29, 2025.

The message is clear: Tax reform is a tough sell, most of the time because voters don’t fully understand everything that is being proposed. That’s a shame because Louisiana tax reform is long overdue.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.

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