House raises $664M; members say it will save higher ed; probably 'the single largest tax hike day'

BATON ROUGE – Louisiana House members may not have saved the day with $664 million in new revenue passed Thursday, but the lawmakers believe they may have saved higher education from a doomsday cut.

“This give us what we need for higher education and part of what we need for health care,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro. “We’ve gotten to second base; now we’ll just need a couple of singles in the Senate to bring us home.”

Fannin needed the new revenue to incorporate into the budget when he sends out House Bill 1 on Monday. “This gives us something to work with,” he said.

House leadership had hoped to raise almost $940 million when the day began but lost momentum and decided to pull state Rep. Jay Morris’ bill that would remove 1 cent of the sales tax exemption for special interest groups.

Read more: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2015/05/07/house-raises-members-say-will-save-higher-ed/70972676/

Supporters of the state’s colleges and universities came up as big winners Thursday when the House approved a series of changes in the state’s tax laws that would raise $664 million next year.

Thursday events also left clear losers, at least for now: the public health care system, including the state’s hospitals that are now managed by private companies.

In all, lawmakers approved 11 tax measures, and House leaders said afterward that they would direct all of the new money on Monday to the state’s higher education institutions to keep them from having to suffer any of the budget cuts that have been feared for next year.

But because the House failed as planned to raise another $273 million through changes to the state’s tax law, someone will be shortchanged, and that someone will be the state’s public health care system.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/12309199-123/louisiana-house-considers-tax-bills