Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns points to himself as being the only one to blame for his prior erroneous reporting entailing our grossly overstated benefit of Gov. Landry’s tax plan to lower-income taxpayers.
In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns does a huge mea culpa for his erroneous reporting on the magnitude of the favorable impact of Gov. Landry’s tax package on lower-income taxpayers and places the blame for that erroneous reporting squarely where it belongs: on himself. Here’s the feature:
11/29/24: Burns does a mea culpa on his prior erroneous reporting on the Landry tax plan which became apparent to him as he read this excellent synopsis of the Landry Tax Plan by the Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council (PAR).
Let us now present two tables demonstrating the impacts of the tax plan on two sets of taxpayers: #1) a single taxpayer earning $35,000 a year (which is the example we used throughout prior features), and #2) a married couple earning $70,000 a year:
Single Taxpayer with Income of $35,000 / year.
| Component of Tax Computation | Louisiana Income Taxes for SINGLE Taxpayer in 2024 BEFORE Enactment of Landry Tax Reform Plan. | Louisiana Income Taxes for SINGLE Taxpayer in 2025 AFTER Enactment of Landry Tax Reform Plan. |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable Income B-4 SD | $35,000 | $35,000 |
| Less: Standard Deduction | <$4,500> | <$12,500> |
| Taxable Income After SD | $30,500 | $22,500 |
| Taxes | ($30,500 - $12,500) x 0.035 + $12,500 x 0.0185 = $861.25. | $22,500 x 0.03= $675. (For a net income tax cut of $186.25. The amount of spending required to wipe out that tax savings based on the 0.55% boost in the sales tax = $186.25 / 0.0055 = $33,863.64. |
Married Taxpayers Filing Jointly with Income of $70,000 / year.
| Component of Tax Computation | Louisiana Income Taxes for MARRIED Taxpayers (filing jointly) in 2024 BEFORE Enactment of Landry Tax Reform Plan. | Louisiana Income Taxes for MARRIED Taxpayers (filing jointly) in 2025 AFTER Enactment of Landry Tax Reform Plan. |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable Income B-4 SD | $70,000 | $70,000 |
| Less: Standard Deduction | <$9,000> | <$25,000> |
| Taxable Income After SD | $61,000 | $45,000 |
| Taxes | ($61,000 - $25,000) x 0.035 + $25,000 x 0.0185 = $1,722.50. | $45,000 x 0.03= $1,350. (For a net income tax cut of $372.50. The amount of spending required to wipe out that tax savings based on the 0.55% boost in the sales tax = $372.50 / 0.0055 = $67,727.27. |
We hope everyone enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving, and we apologize for the inaccurate prior reporting entailing what is now known to be a hugely exaggerated favorable impact we attributed as being applicable for lower-income taxpayers.