The state legislature will have more money at its disposal than originally anticipated. The Revenue Estimating Conference increased its tax and fee collection projections for the rest of this fiscal year and next fiscal year. Melinda Deslatte, the research director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, says that effectively closes the budget gap.
“Basically, the legislature and the governor, if they want to continue doing all the programs and services and funding everything that is currently ongoing, they will now have the money to do it,” Deslatte explained.
Deslatte says while they’re fairly minor adjustments, the dollar amounts are big numbers for the state.
“They adjusted the forecast for next year by about $214 million, and then this year they increased by about $217 million, Deslatte said.
Deslatte says the increase in the tax collection projection is spearheaded by income taxes, despite the fact that the legislature lowered the income tax rates for all earners.
“Personal income taxes, the collections are coming in higher than expected. Sales taxes are about on track for what they forecasted,” Deslatte said.
Deslatte says while the income tax rate may have gone down, overall collections may have increased based on things like total earnings and how many people are employed. The amount of money that the governor and the legislature have to spend is limited by the amount set forth by the Revenue Estimating Conference.
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