Could Louisiana Suspend Its Gas Tax? Here’s How to Do It Now
One thing you can count on in the upcoming Louisiana legislative session - and you can take this to the bank - is that for the first time in a long time, no state lawmaker will introduce a bill to raise the state's gas tax.
In fact, with gas prices at all time highs, you can bet that there will be a move to suspend Louisiana's 20 cent a gallon levy.
But how, exactly, would that work?
Louisiana State Rep. Alan Seabaugh talks about the possibility and the process.
"I think it's a phenomenal idea. In fact I had somebody email me about a detailed proposal yesterday," Seabaugh says, "What we can do is we can suspend enforcement of the law and that includes suspending the collection of the tax. The problem is figuring out how long we're going to suspend it. We can suspend it up to two months after the end of next year's legislative session.
"I don't think the debate is going to be over should we do it, I think the debate is going to be over how long should we suspend it."
Seabaugh then explains how the state would make up the lost revenue. "You can talk about the transportation trust fund. We can back-fill that with federal money."
So, is the, at least short term tax suspension, a done deal? "We're going to fight for it," he says, "I haven't polled my colleagues. I don't know where they are. But with all this federal money to back-fill the transportation trust fund, yeah, I absolutely think it has a legitimate chance to pass."