In state news tonight, the man in charge of Louisiana's
finances wants residents to pay less in taxes.
The Louisiana State Treasurer is pushing for the state to
get rid of state personal income tax entirely.
News since Britt Lafaso spoke with the treasurer about the
hot topic while he was in town in Henderson today.
Britt, Hey, Darla.
State Treasurer John Fleming says ditching the state's personal income
tax will make Louisiana more competitive.
States around us have already done it.
His question, why shouldn't we?
These big companies are leaving California and New York, and
they're coming to the South, but they're going to states
like Texas, Tennessee and Florida, and they're not coming to
Louisiana.
Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming says a big reason for
that is because the estates don't have personal income tax.
Many people are getting educated in Louisiana after growing up,
but they leave for job opportunities elsewhere.
Fleming says Louisiana is the only state in the South
that's losing population.
To bring people back, he says lawmakers need to modernize
the economy.
Many states have passed us by.
They've proven that it can be done.
It's not easy, but it begins with cutting spending, cutting
unnecessary spending.
He says if the state can do that, there's no
need to increase other taxes to make up for what
would be lost by eliminating personal income tax.
And what we need to do is bring down taxes
overall.
And as the economy picks up, people move here, start
new businesses, create more jobs.
What you'll have is more taxpayers paying a lower rate
of taxes.
The idea lowering the corporate income tax to let businesses
and organizations know the states is open for business.
And we have to plan this and convert in our
state, a state that where you pay high taxes and
we have low population and where we have a growing
population but less tax burden on the citizens in the
state.
Louisiana's fiscal session will happen in 2025.
Fleming says they are going to talk about taxes as
the state faces a possible $445 million budget shortfall next
year.
Britt Lafoso, Kayla Fly, News 10.