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looks like it could be satire but it’s really, seriously, and sadly not.
Scrambling to understand how something so shortsighted could happen right under the noses of their colleagues but not them individually, state legislators were taken by surprise after learning they had eliminated the popular “tax-free weekend” for the next seven years.
Friday, August 3rd was supposed to be the start of a tax-free weekend for Louisiana consumers dubbed the “back-to-school” state sales tax holiday. It won’t be happening this year or for a long ass time after legislators passed a bunch of shit without really reading it.
“It was a good two weeks before anyone realized it,” said Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who was part of the team who went to the governor’s office to negotiate the last-minute deal that ended a year-long impasse over the “fiscal cliff” by approving enough sales tax revenue to pay government bills.
“We thought the sales tax holidays were still in there,” McFarland said.
In last month’s rush to balance the bloated state budget and make sure citizens living in a state with one of the nation’s highest sales taxes continue to be milked for every cent possible, legislators inadvertently discontinued the state sales tax holidays until July 1, 2025.
Fortunately for citizens across the state, legislators were able to continue part of an expiring penny of the sales tax. Republican House members initially agreed to keep one-third of the expiring penny, but later offered to keep 40 percent. Democrats, Gov. John Bel Edwards and a majority of the state Senate resolved to keep 50 percent or a half of the fifth penny — a difference of about $86 million.
“It wasn’t anything that anybody discussed,” said State Rep. Paula Davis, who was the chief sponsor of Act 1, the compromise that solved state government’s near-annual fiscal cliff problem.
Great news, though, as this incident totally solves the state’s long-running fiscal irresponsibility and national reputation of incompetence while putting it on track to shoot up many national rankings ahead of Mississippi.