Senators Move Ahead With 1-Cent State Sales Tax Hike
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Senators have started culling through cut and tax proposals backed by the House to rebalance this year's budget.
The Senate's tax committee on Sunday advanced two measures that would generate sizable cash for this year's budget: a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax and a change in the payment schedule for businesses to turn over the sales taxes they collect.
Before passing the sales tax hike to the full Senate, senators changed the expiration date from the 18 months sought by the House to five years.
But Senate leaders say the House hasn't done enough to raise money to help bail out the budget. They say the House's package of tax hikes and cuts still leaves this year's budget short somewhere from $150 million to $200 million.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.