BATON ROUGE - The last glimmers of possibility that legislators would make substantive changes to Louisiana's tax system before their lawmaking session ends Thursday have disappeared.

Republican Reps. Barry Ivey and Julie Stokes withdrew their tax proposals from consideration Saturday in the Senate tax committee when it became clear the measures would be defeated.

The pair was proposing a flat tax plan that they said would improve Louisiana's rankings against other states.

The bills wouldn't have raised revenue for the state or cut it. And that was the problem in the Senate committee. Senators wanted a more comprehensive package of tax changes that could help address a looming, $1 billion budget gap in mid-2018.

Ivey and Stokes couldn't get their bills through the conservative House, however, if they were considered tax hikes.