Louisiana governor vetoes oil and gas tax break from special session

Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed Wednesday an oil and gas industry tax break passed by the Louisiana Legislature that would cost the state over $38 million over the next five years.

Edwards said the bill contained technical errors that would have created difficulties for the oil well operators it was supposed to help as well as government workers tasked with applying the proposed tax exemption.

He also questioned whether it would produce the jobs the oil lobbyists and the sponsor of the legislation, State Rep. Phillip Devillier, had said it would.

“During a legislative session wrought with limited access for the public to meaningfully comment on bills, proponents of this new exemption averred that the exemption would increase oil production and create jobs. Yet no legitimate evidence or testimony supports this assertion, other than the testimony of those with a vested interest through enactment of a new exemption,” Edwards wrote in a letter to legislative leadership explaining his veto.

Read more: https://lailluminator.com/2020/11/13/louisiana-governor-vetoes-oil-and-gas-tax-break-from-special-session/