Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee met vote on the various bills that passed Tax Orgy Day I in the House. To the shock of no one, they reported most bills favorably.

Here’s the rundown:

• The separate inventory tax credit reduction bill that would’ve reduced the credit by 25% was rejected. Instead, the committee rolled it into a bill reducing all corporate, business, and many individual credits.
• The bill reducing most credits by 20% was increased to a 28% cut.
• The cigarette tax is going up even more than the House wanted. The House wanted a 32 cent increase. The Senate is looking at a dollar increase. Smoke up for the children.
• The film tax credit bill and the solar tax credit bill will be considered today. However, the solar industry is arm twisting to try and kill the solar tax credit reductions. The solar industry has brought an army of lobbyists to the Capitol according to numerous sources,
• The remaining tax hikes were kept as is with no amendments.

If anyone thought the more conservative Senate would go to bat for Louisiana taxpayers, those hopes were surely dashed yesterday. It’s likely that these tax hikes will pass the full Senate with little debate.

Whenever the full Senate schedules its Tax Orgy Day, we will of course tell which Senators decided to vote to keep the bloated, failed Huey Long/Edwin Edwards welfare state. We will also tell you which Senators went to bat for Louisiana taxpayers.