The official rumors have been confirmed. It appears that Louisiana will enter into a 4th legislative session in 2024 down at the Capitol in Baton Rouge come November. The session should occur sometime after the November 5th election and before Thanksgiving. It will be a special legislative session that will address only matters related to taxation and revenue reform. Legislators say that the support does exist to hold a third legislative session in 2024, but some say that they're not sure if a consensus can be reached in the short amount of time allowed by a special session. Tax reform debates can get very complicated very quickly.
The issues to be debated during the special session range from lowering personal income taxes for some groups and abolishing the income tax completely for a family of 4 earning less than $25K annually. The sacred cow of the homestead exemption is not on the table for discussion among the 11 pieces of legislation, but some of the more tedious matters like severance taxes and inventory taxes are. There is also legislation dealing with the re-imposition of the temporary .45 cent sales tax as well as several other tax and revenue measures. It would seem that the overall effort will be geared towards cutting and restructuring taxes and revenue streams in an effort to raise more revenue for the state.
Another issue that’s not in this legislative package for discussion is the agricultural inputs exemptions. Yesterday on the phone, the commission of agriculture and forestry, Mike Strain, said, I’m pleased to know that agricultural taxes are not scheduled to be discussed at the Capitol; however, agriculture must always remain vigilant and be ready to fight for the protections that agriculture currently has. This is mandatory to keep Louisiana competitive in the world market. If we change anything in Louisiana For our farmers, regarding this, we’ll be different from all the other 49 states, and that’s not a good thing. This statement by the commissioner is in line with Governor Landry’s comments trhat he made during his press conference regarding his desire to keep Louisiana competitive. Keeping things Just the way they are for agriculture in Louisiana right now does just that.
In speaking with the chairman of the Senate agriculture committee, Stewart Cathey, the senator made a pledge to watch over the process for us to make sure agriculture stays safe during the session. Senator Cathey stated, “Helping people understand what’s important to Louisiana agriculture is my job, and I’m gonna do my job very well during the upcoming special session”. As Senator Cathey has an eye on things for us in the Senate regarding agriculture this special session, the chairman of the house agriculture committee representative Troy Romero will be our star quarterback in the house, Rep. Romero was the first to tell us that there are no bills regarding agriculture. He went on to say, “Louisiana needs to keep its current farming programs in place. Our neighboring states have similar tax structures for agriculture, so this will continue to keep us competitive with them”.
The session should last 2-3 weeks, and it will be an interesting one to watch and see what actually gets accomplished. The secretary of the department of revenue Richard Nelson has some great ideas for tax reform and restructuring that would certainly help our great state be more fisacally balanced and financially attractive to the private sector. Now, let’s see what the legislature does with those ideas in a few weeks.
