Students from across Louisiana took their concerns about the tremendous budget cuts to the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday with cheers such as “No cuts, no future,” and “Katrina didn’t close UNO, but the cuts can.” Just a few hundred feet away, legislators inside the capitol continued to work on solutions to the budget crisis.
Notice I said legislators because Gov. Bobby Jindal has been of little to no help in resolving the budget crisis. His proposed budget leaves higher education at a $211 million deficit, as if it were acceptable to cut that much from the only thing that’ll ensure the state has the skilled and educated workforce Jindal claims he so desperately wants.
That cut is absolutely unacceptable, and Louisiana Republicans and Democrats alike understand that. Everybody from Rep. Bryan Adams, R-Gretna, to Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, are proposing bills to keep institutions of higher education afloat and cut free.
To fill the funding gap, the state is going to have to raise taxes on something other than cigarettes, as Jindal’s budget suggested. The reason he chose to raise a sin tax — those on tobacco and other vices — was because it wouldn’t generate much opposition. Everybody knows it’s bad for your health to smoke or drink in excess, so there shouldn’t be many people complaining.
Despite the lack of opposition, it’s still a terrible idea to shore up the budget with a cigarette tax increase. The problems with it are manifold, but a core issue with it falls in with a trend the state has had for a number of years now — a reliance on unreliable funding sources.
In the 2013 legislative session and nearly every other budget he’s been involved in as governor, Jindal suggested the use of one-time money to fund government agencies instead of recurring funds. These propositions include selling state property, using funds from the tax amnesty program and settling legal cases to make ends meet.
The cigarette tax is not nearly as unreliable as something like using tax amnesty funds, but it’s not guaranteed money. It’s possible to estimate the amount of cigarettes Louisianians will buy.
However, there’s no guarantee they won’t overshoot their estimate, like they did with oil revenues, and leave another budget gap legislators will have to scramble to fill again.
With an increase in tax on a sold good also comes an increase in the amount of cigarettes sold illegally without taxes, whether loose on the street or through more creative means. A 2012 study done for the New York State Department of Health found that “tax-paid cigarettes capture only 55 percent of all cigarettes smoked in New York State,” where the tax on a pack of cigarettes is $4.35. If Jindal wants revenues to decrease, raising cigarette taxes are a great way to do it.
Unlike the Duck Dynasty clan, who get around $330,000 from taxpayers per episode, low-income Louisiana smokers don’t have the cash to prop up the government. The New York study shows the percentage of annual income spent on cigarettes for those making less than $30,000 a year more than doubled, leaving less money in their pockets for food and other necessities.
The cigarette tax will probably go through, but it’ll take a hell of a lot more than that to shore up the budget this year.
Among my favorite legislative solutions include Leger’s bill HB 323, which sets a baseline for higher education funding and prevents extra tuition revenue from being used to pay for cuts to recurring higher ed funds. Essentially, this will prevent Jindal or whoever comes after him from raiding more earmarked for higher education when there’s an increase in students.
Pairing HB 323 with Adams’ HB 766 would be a match made in heaven for higher ed HB 766 takes the tuition autonomy of HB 323 and puts it on steroids.
Under the act, universities would have serious flexibility to use their tuition dollars for new buildings under capital outlay, for purchasing agreements and for tons of other things only university administrators care about, but are extremely important for saving money.
Both of these bills are wonderful ways to help protect higher education, along with a slate of other bills proposed this legislative session. Unfortunately, most of them don’t address the key issue plaguing the state budget right now —the constitutional protection of nearly every agency under the sun.
Voting in amendments to block the state from raiding budget funds has become the favorite way for Louisiana voters to ensure funding for their preferred agencies and programs. The problem is that once one group has a constitutional protection, everybody wants one, leaving us in the current budget scenario where higher ed is one of the few things left that representatives have the legal authority to cut.
This brings us to the bill that The Hayride’s Scott McKay termed “The Bill EVERYONE Will Hate” and by everyone he means nearly every special interest group in the state. House Bill 523 is a doozy, eliminating the constitutional protection of nearly every single dedicated fund including, but not limited to “supplements to the salaries of law enforcement and fire protection officers, free school books, the minimum foundation program, the hospital stabilization formula,” and perhaps most controversially, TOPS.
I don’t see any chance of this passing if special interest groups even remotely pay attention to the legislative session. It’s a shame, because this is exactly the kind of bill to put the state budget back to where it needs to be. This bill would probably do more to protect higher education than anything specifically about it, considering all the funds it frees up for legislators to cut.
A man can dream. If you give a damn about the long-term viability of the state budget, call your representative and tell them you support higher education and HB 523.
James Richards is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from New Orleans. You can follow him on Twitter @JayEllRichy.