BATON ROUGE — Dawn Starns, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Louisiana’s leading small-business association, released the following statement today in response to Governor Edwards’ tax plan:
“This is the kind of tax reform only a Scrooge would love. Here we are, on the verge of federal tax reform that would energize the small-business community and encourage them to expand and create jobs, and Governor Edwards is talking about raising taxes on these same job creators.
“We have the highest sales tax in the country when you add our state and local tax rates together, but small businesses are more opposed to Governor Edwards’ plan.
“What makes this even more frustrating for small-business owners that the governor’s talk of compressing tax brackets creates uncertainty even as Louisiana is looking at a budget surplus in 2018. That means state government will collect more money than it spends.
“Now is not the time to talk about raising taxes. We believe Governor Edwards could learn a lesson from small-business owners and learn to live within his means. NFIB is urging the Legislature to reject the governor’s tax plan and work with the small-business community on a spending plan that’s fair and sensible.”
