AFP-Louisiana: Surplus a Loss for Taxpayers

Sep 14, 2018 by AFP

BATON ROUGE, La. – In light of the state Treasurer’s announcement of a $300 million surplus, Americans for Prosperity-Louisiana (AFP-LA) released a statement Friday criticizing Gov. Edwards and the legislature for hastily raising the sales tax by an estimated $463 million this summer.

“The Governor needs to explain how it is we have a surplus when just two months ago he was claimed we didn’t have enough money to keep the lights on. It’s pretty clear Louisiana taxpayers were conned into thinking the state was broke when it wasn’t,” said AFP-LA State Director John Kay. “Those surplus funds belong to the taxpayers, not the government. If it isn’t returned to the taxpayers with an apology note, it should be used to pay down state debt. But under no circumstance should this surplus be put to any use that expands government.”