House Bills Will Help To Close Budget Gap [Opinion]

Politics is a funny business. The same guys that put Louisiana in a $1.6 billion dollar budget deficit are now patting themselves on the back for still being $1billion dollars off the mark.  If you're a glass half full guy I suppose that's good news. If you're a why did you mess up the glass to begin with guy then you are cautiously optimistic that your wallet will have enough money left in it for you to support your family.

With about a month left to go in the Louisiana legislature's current session the house has approved 11 bills that do close the gap on the budget. They passed a cigarette tax increase. They passed a bill that puts cap on Louisiana film tax credits. They passed a measure regarding tax credits for solar energy.

According to reports, they're still not done with either cutting tax credits, raising taxes, or eliminating programs. Their goal is to close the budget gap by $900 million dollars in total. The hope is that these changes in structure, funding, taxes, and administration will allow our states higher education facilities the ability to educate our children.  Let us hope that is the case.

Of course the fly in the ointment for all of these issues is the fact that they must still be approved and passed by the Senate. That means more debate, more wheeling and dealing, and a good chance that some of these changes will never occur.

In my opinion the reason we have these issues to begin with is the ladies and gentlemen that we elected to represent us are far too concerned about getting re-elected than they are about fixing our state's issues. Politicians don't like to make tough choices that can be used against them in negative commercials. Meanwhile our colleges and universities sit on the brink of financial collapse because some politico is more concerned with keeping his comfortable seat in Baton Rouge.