Louisiana House Rejects Expansion Of Wealth Redistribution Scheme

The Louisiana House rejected an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. The bill, HB 70, by State Rep. Walt Leger (D-New Orleans) failed 48-49.

The bill would have doubled the Earned Income Tax Credit, costing the state $47,000,000. The EITC is refundable which means that a check would be cut back if the credit exceeds the amount of income tax paid to the state. The tax credit is a welfare program issued through the tax code. One of the mantras of the session is to eliminate these types of programs.

Walt Leger voted for all 11 bills during the Tax Orgy. He also filed a bill related to creating a tax credit for rehabbing historical residences. The reason why Louisiana is in the fiscal mess that it’s in is because we continue to elect people like Walt Leger to the Legislature.

There is an argument to be made about getting rid of corporate welfare and these tax credits. In an ideal world, none of these tax credits would exist. These tax credits diminish the effectiveness of the tax system and enables the government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. My issue with the Tax Orgy is that eliminating these credits should be a part of tax reform that lowers overall rates, not solely to be used to raise revenue.

But Leger does not want to do that, he wants the State of Louisiana to pick winners and losers through the tax code. Leger voted for the Tax Orgy because he’s a Democrat. He wants to screw business and rich people and give that money to Democrat constituencies.

State Rep. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport) filed an amendment to transform the EITC from a refundable program into a nonrefundable program that can be applied over five years. It transforms it from a welfare program to an actual tax credit. It saves the state $43 million and creates an incentive for receipients to improve themselves. Seabaugh’s amendment was demagogued on the House floor.

After moving to recommit the bill to Appropriations, which failed, Seabaugh pulled his amendment. The bill then failed.

Here are the Republicans who voted for it:

Patrick Connick
John Guinn
Darrell Ourso
Thomas Willmott

However, there were some Republicans who voted on the motion to recommit the bill to Appropriations, but didn’t cast a vote on the final bill. Here are their names and their constituents should ask where they stand on this bill:

Bryan Adams
Scott Simon

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