The 2017 Regular Legislative Session of the Louisiana Legislature gets under way on Monday, April 10, and runs through Thursday, June 8, at 6 p.m. It promises to be a very interesting session as legislators will look for ways to reform the state’s tax structure while fixing another budget deficit.

Louisiana has faced a budget deficit every year for the past eight years that ranged from $31 million in 2014 to about $1 billion in 2016, according to the Division of Administration, which oversees the budget. The 2017-2018 fiscal year beginning on July 1 is projected to have at least a $400 million deficit.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

The moment of truth comes in the 2018- 2019 fiscal year when the expiration of $1.5 billion in temporary tax hikes passed in 2015 come home to roost. That’s what legislators will be looking at as they tackle the budget in the upcoming session. Reforming the state’s tax code is on the table, and some legislators want to deal with that first before dealing with the budget, realizing that what they do now will have an impact on taxes and revenues in that 2018-2019 fiscal year.

To realize how tough a job it will be, Louisiana already has the highest combined state and local sales tax rate in the country among the 45 states that have a sales tax. The report of the Tax Foundation analyzed state rates as well as average local rates in states where cities and parishes can levy an additional sales tax of their own. Local sale taxes are collected in 38 states.

In Louisiana, the state’s 5 percent sales tax was added to a 4.98 percent average local rate. Alabama was the only state with a higher average local rate, but it was offset by a lower state sales tax. Louisiana added a temporary 1-cent hike to the state sales tax that took effect on April 1, 2016, and expires June 30, 2018. States with the highest sales tax rates in addition to Louisiana with 9.98 percent are Tennessee, 9.46 percent; Arkansas 9.3 percent, Alabama, 9.01 percent; and Washington, 8.92 percent.

Louisiana is not alone. A report from the National Association of State Budget Officers reveal that 31 states will face some kind of revenue imbalance in their upcoming legislative session. The report notes that some states, such as Illinois, Connecticut, Louisiana and Kansas, are in the midst of protracted, years-long debates about how to deal with their structural fiscal problems. It is pointed out that other states are in better shape and will be able to close their budget gaps without resorting to deep spending cuts or broad tax increases.

The bottom line is there are no easy answers. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is presenting his budget to a majority-Republican House and Senate, which will have its own ideas about how to fix the state’s budget woes. The state is spending more money than it is taking in. So, the question becomes more cuts or more taxes. Not an easy decision on anyone’s part. Will the temporary 1-cent sales tax be made permanent? That would be one solution. The governor is proposing an increase in the state’s gasoline tax. But there may be other changes to the tax code to generate more money. Any way you cut it, the news will not be good for any Louisiana resident.

With so many tough decisions to be made, there is one unknown factor to be considered. That’s the number of legislators who are term-limited and can’t be held accountable by their constituents. True, some House members may run for the Senate and some Senate members may opt to run for a House seat. But for the most part, they will no longer be serving in the Legislature. In the House, there are 36 members out of the 105 who are term-limited. And in the Senate, 16 out of 39 members are termlimited.

Granted, the next legislative elections are not until 2019. Still, one has to wonder if these term-limited members will do what their constituents want them to do or if they will become very independent and vote as they please.

Locally, there are three House members who are term-limited. They are Reps. Thomas Carmody (District 6), Jim Morris (District 1), and Barbara Norton (District 3). None of our area senators is term-limited. Sens. Barrow Peacock (District 37) and Greg Tarver (District 39) can serve one more term after this one. Sens. Ryan Gatti and John Milkovich are in their first terms.

The Senate is comprised of 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats and two Independents. There are five women and eight blacks among its membership. The House consists of 58 Republicans, 41 Democrats and three Independents. Among them are 17 women, 24 blacks and one Hispanic.

So the stage is set for what could be a historic session of the Legislature. If resolution to the state’s fiscal problems cannot be reached, the governor has hinted that he could call for a constitutional convention. Now, that would be truly historic. Louisiana’s current Constitution took effect in 1975 after a sweeping 1973 constitutional convention and 1974 statewide vote to approve it. The 1973 gathering included 132 delegates from legislative districts and 27 people appointed by Edwin Edwards during his first term as governor.

Lou Gehrig Burnett, an award-winning journalist, has been involved with politics for 44 years and was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C., for 27 years. He also served as executive assistant to former Shreveport Mayor “Bo” Williams. Burnett is the publisher of the weekly “FaxNet Update” and can be reached at 861-0552 or [email protected].