In the space of two hours, the full Senate did some heavy lifting Thursday. It took just two minutes to okay the much-delayed capital outlay bill.
“Hopefully this will be the final HB 2 of 2016,” Senate Revenue and Fisc chair J.P. Morrell said, with a sigh.
Senate President John Alario couldn’t resist his own zinger aimed at House Ways and Means chair Neil Abramson.
“I think this gives ample time for people to now check for ‘technical and legal questions’ so that hopefully we’ll be ready to concur,” Alario commented.
With minimal debate, the Senate also approved some $200-million worth of revenue-raising measures sent over from the House. In addition, the upper chamber advanced two bills of their own, adding another $189-million toward the budget gap by cutting spending…on business inventory tax credits and industrial tax exemptions.
There were objections.
“This sends the wrong message,” Bossier City Sen. Barrow Peacock said. “Please defeat it. Let’s show that we want businesses here, because those are the private sector jobs that pay taxes.”
Senator Jack Donahue asked his colleagues to wait for a comprehensive tax reform plan, after noting that corporate tax collections for May were back in negative numbers again.
“When we raise a tax, business does stuff to counteract that. We can’t piecemeal these taxes, and expect to be able to raise revenue,” Donahue said.
But Sen. Morrell countered that these are not tax-raising measures.
“We are talking about a tax credit program. As Senator Donahue has pointed out repeatedly in Finance Committee, it’s an expenditure, where the state is spending money.”
And Sen. Rick Ward urged, “At some point we have to make a decision about how much is a little too much. This is your opportunity to make a cut that benefits this state.”
It remains to be seen how House members who insist the budget problem is spending –not revenue – will receive these bills.