LUBA 2002 Legislative Session
Final Report
June 14, 2002
The 2002 Regular Legislative Session adjourned sine die at 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 with a budget and most tax renewals adopted.
After much debate causing friction between the House and the Senate over the tax renewals , both houses finally adopted HB 169 by DeWitt which renews 3.9 cents of a 4-cent state sales tax on groceries and utilities. The tax drops to 3.8 cents next year. One cent is permanent; the rest expire in two years.
The other item critical to funding the budget in its final form was HB 171 by DeWitt which renewed the suspension of the excess itemized deduction on individual state income tax for an additional two years.
Tax Issues
HB 31 and 36 by Rep. Stelly passed and will be on the November 5th ballot for voters to decide. It will ban sales taxes on prescription medicine, groceries and utilities and at the same time raise income taxes on the higher tax brackets. This version of the “Stelly Plan” is a milder version of a plan rejected by voters two years ago.
An attempt to tax more Internet and catalog sales passed the Senate but didn't pass the House.
The Senate passed, but the House killed, a $112-million-a-year tax break for businesses which would have phased out the corporate franchise tax on a company's debt. SB 26 by Barham passed the Senate but was never heard in the House Committee. In a last-minute move to get rid of the tax Sen. Barham amended HB 104 by Montgomery on the Senate floor to remove debt gradually from the basis for the corporate franchise tax, and to phase out the entire tax on smaller businesses. The bill was not heard on the House floor during the last day of the session and; therefore, died on the calendar.
Study Committee
SCR 48 Author: Thomas
Creates for task force on the Working Uninsured to study the possible solutions to Louisiana's severe problem of working uninsured. LUBA will be represented on this task force. The first meeting must be held before July 31, 2002.
Bills that Passed
HB 145 Author: Hammett
Authorizes estates and trusts to participate in certain tax credits and clarifies the distribution of the inventory tax credit among partners in a partnership.
HB 150 Author: Hammett
Combines Subchapter S corporations and qualified Subchapter S subsidiary corporations for state income tax purposes.
HB 242 Author: LeBlanc
Appropriates $58,000,000 in federal funds to the Department of Labor for deposit into the Employment Security Administration Fund and makes certain appropriations from that fund.
HB 252 Author: Downer
Creates a tax credit for actual expenses incurred by an economic development corporation in the preparation and issuance of bonds and makes various changes relative to economic development corporations.
SB 60 Author: Jones, C.D.
Authorizes the governing body of any municipality with population from 50,000 to 55,000 to levy any form of tax permitted for economic development purposes.
Other Bills of Interest that Passed
HB 40 Author: Montgomery
Extends the time period for the exemption of certain buses, trucks, and trailers used in interstate commerce from sales and use tax.
HB 73 Author: Farrar
Authorizes tax authorities in parishes with a population between 120,000 and 140,000 to exempt farm equipment from local sales and use taxes.
HB 82 Author: Daniel
Extends the exclusion for certain transactions related to manufactured homes to local sales and use taxes.
HB 124 Author: Hammett
Provides for a state and local sales and use tax exclusion and a tax credit for the purchase of certain digital television conversion equipment which is purchased pursuant to a federal mandate.
HB 141 Author: Hammett
Provides for attribution of revenue of telephone, television, and radio businesses for income tax and corporation franchise tax purposes.
HB 143 Author: Hammett
Provides relative to the use of the net operating loss deduction after certain corporate reorganizations.
HB 166 Author: DeWitt
Extends the tax on the rental of automobiles.
HB 190 Author: Jackson, M.
Exempts publicly traded partnerships from composite return and payment requirements relative to income tax.
SB 31 Author: Jones, B.
Provides a procedure for claiming certain tax credits and eliminates the requirement that refunds be made to anyone other than the person or entity which earned the credit.
SB 42 Author: Fontenot
Authorizes a refundable credit against income tax and corporate franchise tax for the purchase by a taxpayer of specialty apparel items from a "PIE contractor" which employs inmates to manufacture such apparel
SB 58 Author: Barham
Excludes master loan agreements of motor vehicle dealers from the definition of borrowed capital, with respect to corporation franchise tax.
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