Why is Gov. John Bel Edwards pushing this new, specific method of taxing Louisiana businesses?
Gov. John Bel Edwards settled on proposing to replace the state’s corporate tax on profits with a corporate tax on sales in part because voters in November rejected a different overhaul of the way Louisiana taxes businesses, the state's revenue secretary said in an interview Monday.
The plan on the November ballot, supported by only 44 percent of voters, would have eliminated a major corporate tax break in exchange for lowering the state's corporate income tax rate.
The result signaled to Edwards that voters and lawmakers would have little interest in approving a similar measure this year, or a similarly conceived plan that would scrap individual income tax breaks in exchange for a lower individual income tax rate.
“The governor heard the voters on that,” said Kimberly Robinson, the revenue secretary and Edwards’ point person on taxes.
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