Sound Off Louisiana

On Saturday, October 12, 2024 Apostle Dr. Lue Russell (center of photograph) spoke before a community gathering in Hammond, Louisiana to voice her opposition to one segment of Gov. Landry’s tax reform package (i.e. one component of a “bitter pill” as characterized by media outlets).

Here’s a brief update on the status of some of the key bills pertaining to Gov. Landry’s tax reform package:

HB-1: (Lowers maximum income tax rate for individuals to 3% and completely eliminates the tax being imposed on taxpayers in the lowest tax bracket).

Passed House Ways and Means 15-3; passed House Appropriations 19-0.  Awaits action by the Full House.

HB-2 (Lowers corporate tax rate from 7.5% to 3.5%).

Some testimony taken in House Ways and Means on Friday, 11/8, with testimony to resume on Sunday, 11/10 at 3:30 p.m.

HB-3 (Repeals corporate franchise tax).

Passed House Ways and Means (with amendment entailing when the bill, if passed, would become law) 17-1.

HB-4 (Appropriates additional approximately $3.5 million in ’24 – ’25 FY from existing statutory dedications).

Passed Appropriations 19-0.  Awaits action by the Full House.

HB-5 (Funds teacher salary increase via savings from Teacher Retirement Unfunded Accrued Liability – UAL).

Awaits House Education action scheduled for Tuesday, 11/12.

HB-6 (Calls for 3/29/25 Special Election for Constitution Amendment).

Awaits action by House and Governmental Affairs which has not yet been scheduled.

HB-7 (Constitutional Amendment:  provides changes to Louisiana’s Constitution entailing revenue and finance).

Here’s a recap:

Proposed constitutional amendment contemplates a statewide election to be held on March 29, 2025, and:

(1) Requires 2/3 votes of the legislature for new tax, increase existing tax, new exemption, exclusion, deduction, credit, or rebate; increase a deduction, credit or rebate; or repeal existing tax exemption;

(2) Freezes the sales and use tax exemption on food for home consumption as listed on 1/01/25;

(3) No sales/use tax on prescription drugs;

(4) Requires locals to tax retail, use, lease, rental, consumption, or storage of goods, services, and other products required by law;

(5) Replaces graduated income tax with a flat income tax;

(6) After 12/31/25, persons 65+ shall be entitled to an additional standard deduction (raising that deduction to $25,000);

(7) Caps the expenditure limit to 105% of preceding year’s limit unless changes made by 2/3 of legislature;

 (8) Beginning FY 26, Budget Stabilization Fund (BSF) deposits 15% of corporation income and franchise tax revenues, and 15% mineral revenues;
if BSF capped, deposits become nonrecurring SGF; no deposit if balance exceeds 7.5% previous year’s revenue receipts;

(9) Creates fund classes – permanent trust funds (no principal removed) and program funds (2/3 of legislature);

(10) Dissolves the Education Excellence Fund, LA Education Quality Trust Fund and LA Quality Education Support Fund, balances transferred to TRSL to pay off a portion of the UAL and provide permanent teacher salary increases; and

(11) Various other changes.

Passed Ways and Mean 12-2.  Awaits action by the Full House.

HB-8 (Levies taxes on certain digital products and services).

Was on 11/7/24 House Ways and Means agenda but was not considered nor has it been rescheduled for another Committee meeting to date.

 HB-9 (Levies sales and use tax on a broad spectrum of services not presently subject to the tax).

Here’s the list:

(1) Storage for boats and vessels of less than 50 tons load displacement and trailers.
(2) Auto club services and fees including road and travel services.
(3) Car wash services.
(4) Coin-operated machines or devices that dispense only services and not merchandise, music, skill, or pleasure.
(5) Installation, repair, and maintenance of taxable computer software, and related training.
(6) Condominium timeshare and exchange services.
(7) Dating and social matching services and marriage bureaus.
(8) Delivery, shipping, freight, and transportation services associated with a taxable sale of tangible personal property.
(9) Non-medical diet and weight reduction services including commercial weight loss services not prescribed by a healthcare provider.
(10) Immovable property repair, maintenance, and installation services (excluding new construction, reconstruction, and capital improvements as defined in proposed law).
(11) Information services as defined in proposed law.
(12) Interior decorating and design services.
(13) Intrastate limousine, bus, and van transportation services and taxi cab and rideshare services.
(14) Landscaping, lawn care, and horticulture services.
(15) Linen supply services.
(16) Lobbying services.
(17) Machine and equipment operator services provided with machine or equipment rental.
(18) Mailing services.
(19) Marina services provided with respect to boats and vessels of less than 50 tons load displacement.
(20) Personal fitness training services.
(21) Pet grooming, boarding, sitting, training, and obedience services.
(22) Photography and photographic studio services, including sitting fees.
(23) Photofinishing and film development services.
(24) Private process server services.
(25) Public opinion and research polling services.
(26) Quilting, embroidery, and monogramming services.
(27) Repairs, maintenance, and installation of tangible personal property.
(28) Repossession services.
(29) Restroom operations and comfort station services.
(30) Security services as defined in proposed law.
(31) Personal shopping services for individuals.
(32) Social event planning and coordination services and catering services.
(33) Spa services, massages by massage parlors, and steam baths.
(34) Rental of space for meetings, conventions, short-term business uses, entertainment events, weddings, banquets, parties, and other short-term social events.
(35) With certain exceptions as provided in proposed law, furnishing of space for storage of tangible personal property by a person engaged in the business of furnishing storage space.  (Expands present law on taxation of storage space which imposes sales tax only on the furnishing of cold storage.)
(36) Skin tanning services.
(37) Body modification services including tattooing, piercing, scarification, and branding.
(38) Travel and travel package services including services of travel agents and travel clubs.
(39) Except as prohibited by federal law, cable television services, direct-to-home satellite services, video programming services, and satellite digital audio radio services.
(40) Services provided through warranty agreements, extended warranty agreements, and service contracts.
(41) With certain exceptions as provided in proposed law, waste collection and disposal services (excluding public or private municipal waste management).
(42) Wrecking and towing services.

Has been referred to House Ways and Means Committee but has not yet been heard.  This bill constitutes one of the “bitter pills” (as characterized by at least one media outlet) of the tax reform package.

HB-10 (Makes 0.45% sales tax scheduled to expire on 6/30/25 permanent; repeals certain exemptions, rebates and credits presently applicable for sales and use taxes).

Was on 11/7/24 House Ways and Means agenda but was not considered nor has it been rescheduled for another Committee meeting to date.

As briefly mentioned, media outlets have indicated Landry’s plan is comprised of “sweeteners” and also “bitter pills.”

At this time, let’s present a table of the estimated five-year fiscal impact of the major components of Landry’s plan in order to illustrate why those are the characterizations being made.

[Note:  amounts in parenthesis ( ) represent negative impacts on the State’s finances, and numbers not in parenthesis represent positive impacts, i.e. increased revenue, on the State’s finances].

Here’s the table:

As we indicated in our prior feature, it has always been Sound Off Louisiana‘s policy to enable anyone to “sound off” on a Louisiana governmental issue of concern or interest to that person.

Accordingly, on Saturday, October 12, 2024, we were invited to a community meeting held by The Mixon Clayton Foundation in Hammond, Louisiana, which was founded by E. Rene’ Soule’ .

At that meeting, Dr. Lue Russell, Th.D. expressed opposition to one aspect of Gov. Landry’s tax reform package, specifically, Item # 10 of HB-9 outlined above.  Let’s present her commentary (i.e. allow her to “sound off”) at this time:

10/12/24:  Dr. Russell expresses her sentiments on one aspect of Gov. Landry’s tax reform package and places particular focus on expanding the sales tax to include home repairs.

We certainly understand Dr. Russell’s sentiments; however, let us point out just a couple of things:

#1) Dr. Russell is a real estate agent at Keller Williams and, oftentimes, as part of a traditional real estate contract (Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns was a real estate broker and auctioneer of real estate for 10 years), the buyer often calls for certain repairs to be made by the seller as a condition of sale.  The alternative to paying the sales tax on such required repairs is to sell the property “as is, where is” (which is always done with auction) and avoid the tax.

We would suggest, however, that the buyer is likely to whop off more than the cost of the sales tax being imposed on those repairs, so the simple solution in our minds is to maintain a home during the entire time of ownership, and there should be no big-ticket surprise upon making efforts to sell that home.

#2)  Dr. Russell would appear to be focusing solely and exclusively upon the “bitter pill component” and ignoring completely the “sweetener” in HB-1, which is the complete and total elimination of the lowest tax bracket from being subject to ANY further income taxes in Louisiana!  As Gov. Landry emphasized in his Ways and Means testimony on 11/7/24, that provision of his package results in the lowest-income Louisiana citizens receiving, “the biggest tax cut and the most relief,” (see from 4:38 – 4:55 mark on the just-linked video).

Again, we’ve emphasized our unbridled and full-throttled support for Gov. Landry’s tax reform package, and we commend him on being the only Governor in the lifetime of Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns who has shown the sheer guts to propose a measure this strong that will, in our firm opinion, springboard Louisiana into becoming a much more competitive state on attracting business wishing to expand here and, perhaps equally if not more importantly, plug the bleeding of people leaving Louisiana (especially to Texas) when it comes time to retire.  After all, when we lose those people, we lose ALL of the taxes they were paying as Louisiana residents (both sales and income taxes)!

We again extend our invitation to anyone wishing to do as Dr. Russell has done and express sentiments about Gov. Landry’s plan on our camera irrespective of whether we agree or disagree with those sentiments.

The House Ways and Means Committee will convene today (Sunday, 11/10/24) at 3:30 p.m. with the only two items on the agenda being continued discussion (and expected vote) of HB-2 along with initial consideration of HB-11 which would shift Louisiana’s $7,500 inventory tax exemption from its Constitution to Statute and also allow an additional local exemption provided sheriffs, school boards, and parish governing authorities all assent.

Our next planned update on Gov. Landry’s tax reform initiative is likely going to be Wednesday, after some (or all) of the “bitter pills” have been heard by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry prepares to provide the introduction of his tax reform package to the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee on November 7, 2024.

Full Disclosure: 

Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns very, very strongly supports Gov. Landry’s tax reform package which he’s presenting to the Louisiana Legislature in the current Special Session; furthermore, he frequently advocates for free-market initiatives (particularly entailing overly-burdensome occupational licensing requirements in Louisiana) and is an avid advocate of the initiatives of Louisiana’s prominent think tank, The Pelican Institute, which also supports Gov. Landry’s tax reform initiatives.

When we published our last feature, we indicated that founder Robert Burns would take a “minimum of eight (8) days off.”  Much of that “time off” was spent thoroughly reviewing Gov. Landry’s tax reform proposals, and we have engaged in numerous telephone conversations entailing his initiative along with one town hall meeting at which his tax reform package was discussed.

Obviously seizing the moment of an expected Trump victory, Gov. Landry was shrewd enough to time the current Special Session to commence literally the day after the big election.  He now has a ton of momentum and, in our opinion, he is utilizing that momentum and enthusiasm to propose what we believe to be a very, very valuable first step toward making Louisiana much more competitive with Texas and other surrounding states by lowering both personal and business income taxes.

If his proposals become law, of all of the states in the United States which still have an income tax (and that number continues to dwindle), Louisiana will become the state with the second-lowest top individual rate (at 3 percent as proposed), behind only the state of Arizona.

We will be providing extensive video coverage of the hearings on Landry’s proposals to include both House and Senate Committee hearings as well as floor debates at each Chamber.  Today is Installment One of our series.

Today featured House Ways and Means Committee consideration of two measures:  HB-1, which would lower the personal income tax rate, and HB-3, which would repeal the corporate franchise tax (which is a huge impediment to business entities considering expanding in this state).

The Committee is chaired by Rep. Julie Emerson (R-Carencro), who has an extensive past history of trying to break down many of the barriers to entry in this State entailing occupational licensing, and she has the battle scars to prove her commitment to that cause.

First, let’s have Chairperson Emerson provide a very brief explanation of the game plan for today’s Committee meeting which she outlined at the outset of the meeting.  Here’s that video:

 11/7/24:  Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Julie Emerson outlines what would be covered in the meeting today.

Next, let’s present, in its entirety, Gov. Landry’s introduction of his initiatives and note his strong emphasis on how important it is for all of these measures to all pass as a package:

 11/7/24:  Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry touts the benefits of his proposed tax reform package, which he readily refers to as a, “generational opportunity that we don’t get quite often!”

Let us next present Chairperson Emerson’s wrap up on HB-1 and the actual vote on that bill:

 11/7/24:  Chairperson Emerson wraps up HB-1 and the vote is taken on the initiative (it passed 15-3).

Finally, let us present Chairperson Emerson’s wrap of HB-3 and the actual vote on the bill:

 11/7/24:  Chairperson Emerson wraps on HB-3 and the vote is take on the initiative (it passed 17-1).

We will provide coverage of tomorrow’s meeting as well as all future hearings (to include Sunday).  Obviously, we believe that Gov. Landry’s initiative, with Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson providing the hard work to provide the architectural framework for Landry’s package, is a huge first step toward making Louisiana more competitive with Texas!

Having said that, we know there are folk out there who disagree with us, and we would encourage anyone who falls into that category to feel free to make comments to these posts reflecting your sentiments.

Further, we have afforded to anyone we have encountered who expressed sentiments on Gov. Landry’s initiatives to feel free to express those sentiments, be they positive or negative, on our camera.

We will state right now that we’ve encountered one person who has indeed made comments on our camera expressing her opposition to one of Gov. Landry’s proposed bills.

On the day that we present coverage of that particular bill, we have committed, just as we have since the formation of this blog, to permit anyone an opportunity to “sound off” irrespective of whether the individual(s)’ sentiments line up with ours or not.

We believe our policy in that regard makes Sound Off Louisiana unique.  We intend to honor that commitment which we made at the very formation of this blog, so if there is anyone else out there who falls into the same camp as the young lady whom we’ll be presenting on a subsequent feature, please do not hesitate to contact us and arrange video coverage of your sentiments.

So, to Gov. Landry and Revenue Secretary Nelson, we say, “Great job!”

Who knows?  We just may see Gov. Landry coming around on this whole occupational licensing issue in Louisiana soon because we have folk starting to “come out of the woodwork” at Cosmetology Board meetings and making their sentiments known!  We look forward to airing those people’s sentiments as they chose to “sound off” in the near future!

Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, investigator and paralegal for prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

First, here’s the bottom line on the plea agreement reached between former LSP Trooper Kory York and the Union Parish District Attorney’s office yesterday in court in Farmerville [at which York pleaded no contest to eight (8) counts of misdemeanor simple battery as part of an amended indictment]:

York received:

— Time served which, contrary to one initial erroneous feature from a major newspaper in this state, was not “six months.”  York served no time whatsoever; however, informed sources tell us that it is Judge Rogers’ practice when imposing both misdemeanor sentences and felony sentences to utter the words, “with credit for time served,” irrespective of whether any time was served which, in this case, there was not.

— $1,000 fine plus court costs,

— 160 hours community service,

— One year supervised probation.

There is also one other major media report for which there is a clear discrepancy between what has been reported, which is that York agreed to testify against the lone Defendant remaining in the criminal case, Union Parish Sheriff Deputy Chris Harpin, and York’s contention to the contrary.

What was published is that York would in fact testify against Harpin; however, York defense attorney, J. Michael Small, has reached out to at least one media outlet, KALB TV in Alexandria (the city in which Small resides), and made the following statement:

Mr. York has not agreed to testify against anyone in connection with the disposition of his case.  I’d be very surprised if the state subpoenaed him as a witness.  His no contest plea today is not admissible against him in the pending civil suit.

So, we obviously feel the mainstream media has been a tad derelict in its reporting of yesterday’s happenings.  We do trust, however, that the reporting on York testifying was based on a solid source (which in our minds at least can only be District Attorney John Belton); however, it’s obvious that whomever the source was in providing the justification for publishing the contention that York would testify against Harpin obviously was not further substantiated by York attorney J. Michael Small.

Small also emphasized that York’s no contest plea cannot be used against him in the eventual civil trial entailing Greene.

We further fault that mainstream media for not providing any specifics whatsoever entailing what the friends, family, and supporters of Ronald Greene had to say in the aftermath of the Court proceeding.

We are remedying that shortcoming by way of this feature, which is also the reason we traveled to Farmerville to cover the matter.

First, the family made it known that they are pleased to have prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump’s paralegal, Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed as part of their civil litigation team.

As we have previously made known on October 1, 2023 in this feature. we strongly disagree with the Greene family’s decision to retain Crump and, by default, Reed.

We assume Reed saw the preceding-linked feature because, as the battery on Burns’ camera had a tad over a minute left, Burns began a final 360-degree panning of the audience attending the Greene supporters’ statements.

It was at the conclusion of that panning that Reed made his sentiments known that he didn’t want to be on our camera.  His acts, as will be depicted in a video soon, included both blocking the camera with his hand (after which he literally grabbed the camera) and uttering, “I don’t want to be on your fucking camera!”

Once Burns was able to manage to free the camera from Reed’s grasp, he (Burns) closed the lens, after which he stated directly to Reed:  “Sir, you have a good day,” and he departed the event.

Let’s provide video of Greene’s sister, Dinelle Hardin, calling upon Reed to come forward to be recognized, followed by that approximate one-minute panning of the audience culminating with Reed uttering his profanity directly at Burns:

 10/28/24:  Crump investigator and paralegal Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, after having been called forward by Dinelle Hardin, brought Sound Off Louisiana coverage of the post-court-hearing remarks to a close by grabbing Burns’ camera and stating, “I don’t want to be on your fucking camera!”

We are about to present three (3) more videos featuring Crump investigator and paralegal Reed since it was he who openly condoned the killing of four (4) Baton Rouge police officers, three of whom died instantly and a fourth, Nick Tullier, who lingered in a Houston hospital paralyzed for years before finally ultimately dying on May 5, 2022.

Reed openly condoned those murders when he emphatically uttered, “justice came when Gavin Long came,” on the first video below.   It was Long who made his way down to Baton Rouge from Kansas City, Missouri and ambushed the Baton Rouge Police Officers (one of whom was black) on July 17, 2016.   The three (3) videos follow:

 July, 2017 East Baton Rouge Parish Council Meeting during which Reed (early on the video) uttered the phrase, “Justice came when Gavin Long came!”

 Reed, in demanding the resignation of former EBRP Mayor-President Melven “Kip” Holden, curses the very God he claims he now serves after having become a Christian upon release from his prison sentence.  Obvioulsy, Holden let Reed’s admonition go in one ear and out the other, and he completed his third term as EBRP Mayor-President.

 Reed is escorted from the 8/10/17 EBRP Council Chambers and engages in repeated profanity both as being escorted out and for an extended period thereafter.

We’ve previously stated our sentiments on the Reed matter, so we’ll let our site visitors assess his role as part of the Plaintiff team in the civil matter of Ronald Greene.

At yesterday’s proceedings outside of court, Union Parish District Attorney John Belton came under extremely heavy condemnation, and several instances of profanity transpired during the Greene supporters’ commentary on Belton.  We have isolated clips of their sentiments toward Belton, and here’s that video:

10/28/24:  Ronald Greene supporters engage in tirades against Union Parish DA John Belton (Caution:  Video content has repeated instances of profanity).

Also at yesterday’s proceedings, Greene supporters, friends, and family made it clear just how racist they believe that the residents of Farmerville and Union Parish are.  Here’s that video:

 10/28/24:  Ronald Greene’s family, friends, and supporters state their reasons for asserting that Farmerville, Louisiana and Union Parish are “racist.”

Finally, since Reed pulled his stunt and we could not get a formal “wrap” of the proceeding, let us present Ms. Mona Hardin’s initial statements about what she claims happened with DA Belton as our improvising way of providing a “wrap.”  Here’s that video:

 10/28/24:  Mona Hardin, Ronald Greene’s mother, states what she claims transpired during the timeframe of the negotiation of the plea deal which York formally entered into.

CLICK HERE for the friends, family, and supporters’ comments in their entirety (at least until Reed pulled his stunt)!

Hopefully, this feature provides considerably more prospective than the mainstream media supplied on just what all transpired at yesterday’s gathering outside the Courthouse after the entering of the plea deal by York.

We hope everyone has an enjoyable upcoming week to include the November 5, 2024 election because, by way of this final paragraph, we are letting everyone know that we’re taking about 8-9 days off (at a minimum)!