This week’s good news is that while the Louisiana legislature is in session, it has not placed any new burdens on the working citizens  and businesses of Louisiana.  And the really good news is that our Legislators have before them an historic – if not Biblical – opportunity to escape the crushing weight of excess taxation and reverse our cancerous “Population Out-Migration.”  If you demand that your legislators support the “Five Vote Economic Miracle,” the out-migration cancer will be healed, and our people and our businesses will grow exponentially.

To understand the historic size of this prospective “Economic Miracle” before us, we must remember how poorly Louisiana’s economy has performed for the last decade and up to now.  There has been no economic growth in Louisiana for a decade.  Luckily, and as usual, another statistical comparison between Louisiana and our other States has arisen that reaffirms the depth of the dysfunction of Louisiana’s economic environment in 2023.  We all recognize the economic and social destruction occurring in New York and Illinois.  So, how does Louisiana’s out-migration compare to Illinois and New York?  The fact is that Louisiana is losing over 100 people a day.  In terms of percentage of the State’s population, out-migration in Louisiana is tied with Illinois at 0.8% decline from 2021 to 2022, behind only New York with a 0.9% loss.[1]  With a net loss of 36,857 people, Louisiana’s population is shrinking 100 people a day.  In short, Louisiana’s economy presently is one of the top three worst performing economies in the United States.

And now to the “Five Vote Economic Miracle” before the Louisiana legislature.  The best news for the “Five Vote Miracle” strategy is that because of excessive COVID funding from the U.S., and excess taxation by the State, this Legislature has over $4 billion in excess funds over the annual revenue needed for previous year budgets.  More good news, there is a statutory limit in place right now that allows the legislature to spend only one-half of one billion legally, requiring that the remainder be saved.  That is all the good news we have.  The “Five Vote Miracle requires five votes from each legislator, to disconnect today’s economy from Louisiana’s “Long” history of government favoritism, and business crushing taxation.

Each Louisiana legislator needs to cast five biblically simple votes to revive Louisiana’s economy, beginning the day the vote is cast.  “REPEAL AND GROW” is the name of the economic game in Louisiana.  It is already working in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida.  It will resurrect Louisiana.  The “Five Vote Miracle” includes:

1. Vote No on waiving or changing the existing State spending limit.
2. Vote No on any legislative pay raise.
3. Vote No on any new taxes (and no for waiver of tax exemptions).
4. Vote Yes on Repeal Personal and Corporate income taxes (phase-out in three years).
5. Vote Yes to Repeal the 0.43% temporary sales tax; and phase out 1.0% of State sales taxes by two 0.50% step-downs over two years.

Again, Louisiana is blessed today with the excessive funds to transition away from excessive taxes, and into a State economy based upon growth and productivity.  Moreover, I believe we have the election of a conservative Governor on the horizon.  Wasting these Louisiana dollars now would be a political and legislative sin.

To paraphrase a Shakespearian politician:  “We have come here to bury Huey, not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them.”  The “Five Vote Economic Miracle” is Louisiana’s burial of “Long Government” and a new path to modern prosperity.  “Repeal and Grow” is the name of the game in the South.  It is time for Louisiana to bury its “Long History” and build our Twenty-First Century economy based on low taxes, population growth and economic productivity.  For Our Miracle, We Need Five Votes.

^[1]American Press, January 2, 2023, https://www.americanpress.com/2023/01/02/census-data-louisianas-population-in-decline/