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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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House sidetracks Senate effort to fund higher education
The Louisiana House on Monday sidetracked a Senate-backed proposal to delay a scheduled tax break next year, stalling the measure without a committee hearing amid continued budget disputes.
Senate Bill 335 by state Sen. Lydia Jackson won overwhelming approval from the Senate last week, but House Speaker Jim Tucker on Monday prevented it from moving to the House Ways and Means Committee for a hearing. Tucker, R-Terrytown, said the measure violates a constitutional provision that requires that “revenue raising measures” start in the House, not the Senate.
The move stymies Jackson’s bill at least temporarily in a chamber where a majority of lawmakers have signed a statement pledging to oppose it. But the Senate can tack the proposal onto another House bill, send it back to the House for approval and get it to the full House for debate without a Ways and Means Committee hearing.
Jackson’s SB335 calls for delaying until 2012 a tax break for individual taxpayers who itemize their state returns. The delay would give the state another $118 million to spend next year —dollars the Senate wants to dedicate to public colleges, to lessen budget cuts in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Jackson said Monday that she recognizes the House’s “adamant opposition” to her bill. She said she has hopes that the two chambers can agree on a way to restore some of the higher education funding, even if it’s not in the form of her tax break delay.
The House action is a “No” for now. “But the Senate voiced its opinion overwhelmingly, and we hope we can get the House to come along,” said Jackson, D-Shreveport.
Her bill would delay implementation of a 2007 law that allows taxpayers to deduct 100 percent of their excess itemized deductions — including mortgage interest, charitable donation and health care costs — compared with the current 65 percent. The change is scheduled to take effect for 2009 tax forms, but Jackson’s bill would delay that change until taxpayers fill out their 2012 forms.
About a quarter of Louisiana’s taxpayers, mostly those with high incomes, itemize their deductions, according to the state Department of Revenue.
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