BATON ROUGE, La. – The Committee of 100 for Economic Development released the following statement on the Landry Administration’s announced plans for a tax reform special legislative session:

The Committee of 100 (C100) has advocated for fiscal reform over the last decade and commends the intent by the Landry Administration to pursue broad-based tax reform to improve Louisiana’s competitiveness. It’s obviously very complicated, and the Louisiana Legislature will have its hands full. We intend to help evaluate independently the effects of the plans on the budget, economy, and families, as well as any potential negative effects of the proposed trade-offs. For almost a decade, C100 has shared the details of a comprehensive outline of tax reform that our organization commissioned from the Tax Foundation. Many of the proposed elements of the Governor’s plan seem to resemble the recommendations made in that 2015 report, called “Louisiana Fiscal Reform: A Framework for the Future,” which is available online: https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/louisiana-fiscal-reform/. While the details of their proposals are just coming to light, the ideas are not necessarily new and have been studied and researched by many organizations over many, many years.

Without question, the effects of the proposed changes would significantly change major aspects of economic and fiscal policy for Louisiana. Better tax and fiscal policy can motivate investment and fuel economic growth. As an organization closely aligned with state economic development strategy, we will assess the effect of the plans on the state’s competitiveness. In proposing to eliminate or reduce the state’s economic development tools, it’s important that these incentives be thoughtfully replaced with new tools that maintain or improve Louisiana’s competitive edge.

We encourage elected officials and the public to consider the details with open minds, and pay deliberate attention to the state’s looming budget shortfall at the same time. If the administration’s plans create better tax policy that also balances with the budgetary needs for education, economic development, infrastructure, and critical human services, we believe that statewide tax reform can position Louisiana for better outcomes for decades to come.