Coming off another loss due to the Curse of Omar, thanks to Gov. Landry, the LSU Tigers lost another football game. At least it’s not all fraught in the world of Louisiana football since Tulane is ranked.
Regardless of Landry’s cat-astrophic failure of a stunt, it has opened up a floor of criticism toward him. Regardless, the ULL graduate marches forward, seemingly unfazed by all the buzz around his little stunt. In fact, Landry has been quite busy lurking behind the scenes to change tax codes.
“Oh wow, a lawyer being slimy and snake-like; this is unprecedented and has never happened before. Louisiana has never had a history of governors full of corruption, not at all. Long was just a good dealbreaker, and Edwards had a lot of money after his tenure.”
Landry pales in comparison to the aforementioned governors, as he wants to take money from you and give it to the rich. He’s as if Robin Hood was evil.
Landry and his goons have a slew of new House bills that mess with Louisiana taxes. Landry, on his website, claims that this new system will save Louisianians money in the long run. However, if you look at the fine print of his bills, something isn’t quite adding up.
Going in chronological order, Louisiana House Bill 1 calls for eliminating the current income tax structure that exists in Louisiana and replacing it with a flat 3% income tax. This seems like a good idea on paper: more money in your pocket, but at what cost? A $1.3 billion deficit, of course, not to mention an increase in other taxes, as explained later.
Moving down the line, we reach Louisiana House Bill 2, which calls for a reduction of corporate tax down to 3.5% but also eliminates different tax incentives, such as the film industry tax credit and the credit for restoring historic buildings.
Not only will House Bill 2 kill the Louisiana movie industry, but it would also put historic buildings in danger, as corporations would no longer have incentives to keep them historic and would demolish them for more space.
If we weren’t already in a deficit, we will certainly be in one after Louisiana House Bill 3, which calls for repealing the corporate franchise tax.
While this may be good for businesses moving to Louisiana, this bill will further the billion-dollar deficit; with so much lost money from corporations wishing to start businesses in Louisiana, it will further tank theeconomy. Furthermore, reading the bill in its entirety, you can tell it was written in oil.
The penultimate bill of Landry’s “tiny” tax package is Louisiana House Bill 9, the so-called answer to these deficits. Before I get into what exactly is taxed extra, I will point out the exceptions, which include law services, architects, engineers or accountants.
I find it quite amusing that these four occupations were picked in particular. It wouldn’t be like Landry has any good friends in any of these fields… right? That would simply be unethical, and Landry is known for being ethical, right? It’s not like he is in control of his own ethics committee… oh wait, he is.
Regardless of this, the extra taxed services include car washes, dating apps, streaming services, Uber rides, Airbnb’s, parking garages, laundromats, weight-loss products, etc. All these services will receive between a 0.45-0.5% increase in tax, which is an outrageous ask.
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What House Bill 9 will ultimately do is punish poor people. The whole point of this new tax structure is to tax the working and middle classes more; while the rich and upper classes pay less in taxes.
Governor Landry doesn’t care about working-class Louisianians; he only wishes for the rich to profit from them.
We aren’t even done with Landry’s plan yet, as we conclude with Louisiana House Bill 10, which makes 84 currently non-taxable products taxable, reducing the state sales tax from 0.45% to 0,4% and providing a few tax exemptions. This includes diapers, both adult and kid, medicine and Bibles.
There are no mentions of other Holy books that can be exempt from taxes, so I find this one quite odd, personally. I don’t feel like the law should benefit only one religion, but whatever, I’m not the governor. But nothing can be quite as odd as how Landry has handled his tax plan on Twitter, now known as X.
When the names Huey and Rose come to mind, you don’t imagine a working-class couple that makes $25,500 a year; you think of Huey and Rose Long, former senator and governor of Louisiana and his wife, who was also a former senator for Louisiana.
Gov. Landry attempted to pass off these names, along with a stock photo of a couple to advertise how much money they would be saving under Landry’s new tax system.
However, not only was the money they saved barely a reason to uproot the system, but Landry also lied about these people, pretending they were “Huey” and “Rose.” If he lies about this, how can we be sure that this couple, who allegedly makes $25,500 a year, will save $91 a year with his new tax code?
What Landry is doing with this tax plan is masking the corporate tax cuts and tax cuts for the super-wealthy by cutting taxes for everyone. Still, the issue comes when the prices of products used every day, such as Netflix and dating apps, become more of a poor tax than anything else.
I say this because while rich people can afford the increase in price, the working class/middle-class person cannot. They will be forced to either cough up the extra money for these products or give up the products, and their quality of life will decrease as a result.
Landry’s new tax plan can be ascribed to two words: “poor tax.” The sales tax increase will affect only the working class and middle classes, as they will immediately feel the effects of price increases. Landry’s plan will cause more things to be stolen, including food, because many will be priced out of groceries.
Governor Landry does not care for his poor or middle-class citizens. Landry only wants to appeal to the wealthy to get a kickback from it. He is an evil man and far too dangerous for the Governor’s office. Thankfully, considering how many people Landry has pissed off, he should be voted out in 2027.
Speaking of voting, there is still a way to voice your opinion on his tax code. Louisiana House Bill 6 calls for a special election for some of these tax codes. The special election is scheduled for March 29, 2025. Use your vote to tell Landry to get his damn hands off your money.
Andrew Sarhan is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, La.
