re: JBE's new proposal: Tax streaming services and digital media

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Don't blame Vitter.

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I don't blame Vitter for diaper gate. He does have to take the blame for running such a scorched-earth campaign in the primaries that he ran of support form the losers. I also blame the GOP establishment for backing him so hard instead of someone who could win.
btw, I voted for Vitter regardless

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Everyone wants to act like there's a magic waste or fraud bucket to cut from

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If you want to count pork to local projects, then yes there's a lot of waste, fraud and abuse to cut.

You could also reign in TOPS, cut out the Film credits, reign in the business tax exemptions, find all the money different agencies have ratholed, and then you could layoff state workers.

And its a lot harder to lead when you aren't the governor.

But look at the leadership he has provided. First he needs a CAT tax modeled after Ohio, but now its Texas. Today he wants to broaden the base on sales tax. He wants to change the income tax code, to lower rates and cut exemptions. He is all over the place with ideas, which he floats with little advance notice.

He's not leading, he's trying to throw a grenade in hopes he hits something.

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JBE is Governor because of Vitter.

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Being relentlessly drug through the mud of character assassination by two republicans who couldn't hold a candle to his conservative and professional credentials. And those two republicans are now working for the enemy and lost to a novice joke candidate for a house race.

And Vitter also running a complacent and lazy campaign that didn't touch JBE until it was too late and there wasn't enough time in the runoff to get those republicans away from JBE. And that's his own damn fault.

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Scalise, Strain, Kennedy---maybe even Nungesser could have been elected.

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I don't care who it is or if deals have to be cut in smoke filled back rooms but I want the GOP to unite around a candidate by early fall of next year. Keep the 2019 general to one republican and never ever allow JBE to take advantage of conservative-republican division again and make sure he can't squeak by into the runoff again.

There is no reason why JBE should not lose the first round in a crushing landslide if the Louisiana GOP can be united and republicans are mindful to avoid candidates like Dardenne and Angelle who went into character assassination mode.

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If you want to count pork to local projects, then yes there's a lot of waste, fraud and abuse to cut.

You could also reign in TOPS, cut out the Film credits, reign in the business tax exemptions, find all the money different agencies have ratholed, and then you could layoff state workers.

And its a lot harder to lead when you aren't the governor.

But look at the leadership he has provided. First he needs a CAT tax modeled after Ohio, but now its Texas. Today he wants to broaden the base on sales tax. He wants to change the income tax code, to lower rates and cut exemptions. He is all over the place with ideas, which he floats with little advance notice.

He's not leading, he's trying to throw a grenade in hopes he hits something.

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I'll take heat for this, but his approach is pretty consistent. Broaden the base, remove exemptions, lower the rates, don't mess with industries that paid for the inaugural ball.

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If you want to count pork to local projects, then yes there's a lot of waste, fraud and abuse to cut.

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Do you mean Capital Outlay? It's pork in that it's selectively directed, but that's pretty much all infrastructure/construction. But if you want that kind of thing to go unfunded by the state, fine by me. Something tells me BR residents won't complain when it goes to us though.

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You could also reign in TOPS, cut out the Film credits, reign in the business tax exemptions, find all the money different agencies have ratholed, and then you could layoff state workers.

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The problem is, this is so generic as to offend nobody. It's not useful. Every specific little corp/personal income tax credit and sales tax exemption has a constituency that will fight for it, and general principles won't overcome them. And if they do lose their little perk in one session, they'll have a bill and a constituency there next time fighting to bring it back.

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its a lot harder to lead when you aren't the governor.

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Sure. But it looks bad when Dardenne can say "WHY DON'T YOU POINT TO ACTUAL PROGRAMS AND DOLLARS YOU WANT US TO CUT" and everyone just sits there slackjawed.

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He is all over the place with ideas, which he floats with little advance notice.

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In his defense, the only thing he has floated without notice was the CAT/GST. Everything else came from that Task Force that Schroder wanted.

That's not to defend JBE or say he's leading. He doesn't want to cut spending. The thing is, it really looks to me like the people really don't either.

Even reining in TOPS will encounter fierce opposition from the "cut waste" crowd. Capital Outlay may be a viable target though- but then we would just start hearing the shitty roads and bridges complaints all the louder though.

Honestly I think we need to come to grips with the fact that oil & gas will never foot the bill for government like it used to, and fund sweeps/un-dedicating funds won't fix the imbalance for long, either. We are in denial about how much spending we really want to pay for.

I find myself really curious about what Vitter would have done to fix our shortfalls/deficits had he been elected. That's a set of problems I wouldn't wish on anyone, including JBE.

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Honestly I think we need to come to grips with the fact that oil & gas will never foot the bill for government like it used to, and fund sweeps/un-dedicating funds won't fix the imbalance for long, either. We are in denial about how much spending we really want to pay for.

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And herein lies the problem. When you get to the half of the budget that is not Federal money it contains programs that nobody has the political power to cut. Addressing the spending will never prevent viable solutions, and this is even more true in the near term.

So since cutting spending is off the table, I think we should develop Recovery Audit Contractor programs for some of our larger agencies like DHH and DOTD. Have contracted auditors poor through the books and find fraudulent, duplicative, and over payments. They get a cut of the money recovered. It has worked wonders for Medicare, and if Medicaid is even a fraction as bad as is assumed we should be in good shape soon.

meanwhile, at the Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Committee...

Rev & Fisc Chair filing bills to exempt tampons

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Who says we are in a $400 million deficit?

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We're not, but when the temp sales tax increase goes away next year, we will be. And 2018 isn't a fiscal session; 2017 is