Fellow LA Conservatives:

We knew they would attempt it. Introduced in the State Legislature today is an income tax increase, larger than the illegal $118 Million state income tax increase the Senate, including quite a few Republican Senators, attempted to pass in 2009.

HB 609 by Herbert Dixon (D-Alexandria) was introduced on the House floor today. It is a similar format to the one the Senate tried to pass two years ago, reducing the percentage of certain itemized deductions, except this time, instead of reducing the percentage from 100% to 65%, they are attempting to reduce the percentage that can be deducted to 50%.

The extra revenues (TAXES) would be put in some fund for Higher Ed, so you know the university elites, professors, presidents, etc. will push for its passage. And while dedicating to our “underfunded” Higher Education system may pull at the hearts of some, this completely ignores the real issue at hand. The reason our universities are “underfunded” is because we have TOO MANY 4 year public universities for Louisiana’s tax base to effectively support.

The passage of this tax increase will accomplish only three things:

1) Take more money out of the hands of Louisiana taxpayers
2) Kick the can down the road, as no real reforms to Higher Ed are addressed
3) Allows our politicians to continue spending money on non-governmental responsibilites, such as golf courses, lakes and festivals, i.e. local re-election projects

We have a Republican majority in the House. This bill should be dead on arrival if it makes to the House floor for a vote.

It is likely to be referred to Ways & Means for committee hearing. The committee members are listed here.

Of the 17 committee members, 8 are Republicans and one of the Independents, Joel Robideaux, aligns with Republican Sen. Mike Michot and Republican Rep. Page Cortez.

Please contact your legislators to tell them we are watching. Remind them that re-election time is only a few short months away. I don’t know about you, but I already fork over enough money for government.

Thank you for your time and consideration.