Economic woes for the state of Louisiana are continuing. State Treasurer John Kennedy is placing the blame for those problems squarely on the shoulders of our current part-time Governor and full time presidential candidate Bobby Jindal.

For the first quarter of the new fiscal year tax revenues in Louisiana were down 13% compared to the same time last year. John Kennedy told the Louisiana Radio Network,

Overall, I’m disappointed. I think we’re starting to see more of the bite from the declining oil revenues, that’s part of it.

Kennedy also says the fact that the legislature raised taxes by 800 million dollars is also having its share of implications across the state. The fact is you can't raise taxes and not expect businesses and individuals to change the way they handle their money. The biggest issue that appears to be plaguing our state is we are spending more than we are taking in.

The longer we delay dealing with this, the worse it’s going to get. We’ve got to come up with a plan to deal with it without gutting higher education like a fish.

Kennedy puts the brunt of the blame on Governor Bobby Jindal. The state's Treasurer said that he believe Jindal has a moral obligation to at least submit a plan to help fix the problem his policies created.

These are not good revenue numbers. You cannot put lipstick on a pig here, it’s still a pig. And while I hope it doesn’t happen, it could get worse.

As you can imagine that is going to mean even more belt tightening for you and I since no new plans to fix the spending or the revenue problem appear to be in place. Add in the low price of oil and the future is not nearly as bright as most of us would hope it could be.

 

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