Taxes spur more dissent than deals early in special session
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - With a nearly $1 billion budget gap only months away, lawmakers appear far from agreement about what taxes they might support to fill the hole.
Dividing lines were evident Tuesday as the House Ways and Means Committee started sifting through tax bills on the second day of a special session.
Gov. John Bel Edwards called the 17-day session to replace expiring temporary taxes that are causing the shortfall for the financial year starting July 1.
Some Republicans won't support taxes, and those willing to consider taxes are leaning toward sales taxes. Democrats are interested in income tax changes.
Getting the widest interest is legislation to permanently eliminate some sales tax breaks. But lawmakers disagree about which ones.
The Ways and Means Committee is expected to start voting on proposals Wednesday.