House Considers Second Flat Tax Bill

Another flat tax proposal will be considered by the full Louisiana House of Representatives during Monday's session.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Barry Ivey (R-Central), would replace the current income tax brackets with a 4.25-percent flat tax. A constitutional amendment tied to the bill would remove the mandatory deduction of federal taxes on state returns. The constitutional amendment will be considered by the House Civil Law Committee during its Monday morning hearings.

Unlike a similar bill authored by Rep. Jerome Zeringue (R-Houma), Rep. Ivey's bill removes the two-percent sales tax for anyone who $12,500 or less. The $12,500 amount is the threshold to file state income taxes.

According to the fiscal note attached to Rep. Ivey's legislation, the state would lose $7.4 million in the first year after the bill becomes law and $1.2 million in the second year. The state would then see revenues of $6.9 million dollars annually every year after for a five-year revenue total of $12.1 million.

That revenue amount is lower than the $29.4 million Zeringue's flat tax bill would net over its first five years and the $18 million Rep. Stuart Bishop's (R-Lafayette) tax bracket reform bill would net in that same time. Both of those bills are pending full House consideration.

It's also substantially lower than the $101.3 million that Rep. Mandie Landry's (R-New Orleans) tax bracket expansion proposal would have netted the state in its first five years. That bill failed in committee.

To read the full story about Zeringue's, Bishop's, and Landry's bills, click here.