<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0VxUN6_0zjpe5WY00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0VxUN6_0zjpe5WY00" width="1200" height="630" >Louisiana voters are frequently asked to make technical fixes to a state constitution that just about everyone agrees has grown too complicated and inflexible. Occasionally they’re asked to approve significant policy changes in the state’s governing document.But not since the current constitution was adopted more than 50 years ago have they been tasked with casting a single up-or-down vote on as many consequential provisions as are contained in Amendment 2 on the March 29 ballot, with early voting March 15-22.Adoption of the amendment would essentially rewrite the article that governs state and local revenue and finance, enshrining changes laid out in a 115-page bill adopted by the Legislature and championed by Gov. Jeff Landry in a November special legislative session.Let’s start by acknowledging that there are things we like in the proposal.The most high-profile proposals would allow teachers to keep receiving the $2,000 stipend awarded over the past several years, when lawmakers declined to enact permanent raises. The money would come from liquidating several trust funds and paying down the retirement system debt, the latter being another worthy goal.Elsewhere, the amendment offers incentives for localities to stop charging inventory tax, which discourages investment in our state. It would give lawmakers some more spending flexibility by reducing the amount locked away in trust funds, and make it harder to enact the sort of tax exemptions that keep Louisiana’s overall rates artificially high and create winners and losers.But we have serious concerns over other provisions.For all the added flexibility lawmakers would have if more money flows into the general fund and less into protected funds, these funds have served the state well. And there are other provisions in the amendment that would give future lawmakers less flexibility than they have now, including a hard cap on the income tax rate and less flexibility to grow spending to address the state’s ongoing needs.Editorial: Our recommendations on Amendments 1,3, and 4 on the statewide ballotAnd dissolving education trust funds, combined with other spending restrictions, could make it harder to fund education priorities besides teacher pay, including early childhood education programs that reap all sorts of educational and economic benefits.There’s much, much more, so much that we doubt most Louisiana voters have the bandwidth to fully understand all the changes, and then weigh and measure where they come down on balance (although we urge them to read the detailed analyses available online from groups in favor, opposed and neutral).And that brings us to another major concern: the process that brought us to this point.We don’t believe the rushed adoption of this sweeping amendment during a short session — while the Legislature was simultaneously making major changes to personal income, sales and corporate taxes — allowed for the level of vetting that these extensive proposals warrant.Compare this to the lead-up to the vote on the 1974 constitution, which was extensively debated in public over a full year by elected delegates.Moreover, the urgency that led to the special session, driven by the fiscal cliff that was looming once temporary sales taxes expired, is not a factor. We weren’t happy that lawmakers adopted even higher sales taxes while cutting and flattening income taxes — our preference is for a graduated system in which those who are not struggling, within reason, contribute proportionally more than those who are — but rejecting this amendment does not create an emergency.Following that session, we wrote that many of the ideas discussed were promising, and we applauded the Landry administration and lawmakers for starting the conversation about how best to fund government. We believe that conversation should continue, and not be short-circuited by hasty passage of this proposal. We therefore recommend a “no” vote on Amendment 2.</div></body>

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Louisiana voters are frequently asked to make technical fixes to a state constitution that just about everyone agrees has grown too complicated and inflexible. Occasionally they’re asked to approve significant policy changes in the state’s governing document. But not since the current constitution was adopted more than 50...

Editorial: We recommend a no vote on Amendment 2

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Louisiana voters are frequently asked to make technical fixes to a state constitution that just about everyone agrees has grown too complicated and inflexi

Editorial: We recommend a no vote on Amendment 2

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