LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (KPLC) – John Fleming has been state treasurer for about eight months.
In this short time, he has implemented many changes. But he is still working on another change: the abolition of the income tax.
Income tax is levied on the income of an individual or household.
In 2021, House Bill 278 was passed, which cuts income tax rates to 1.85 percent, 3.5 percent, and 4.25 percent. However, Fleming wants to abolish the income tax entirely.
“Companies and people are leaving California and moving south. They’re leaving New York and moving south. But they’re not coming to Louisiana. They’re coming to Texas, Tennessee and Florida. And what do those states have in common? They don’t have an income tax,” Fleming said.
Fleming says the future of the country in finance, in our economy, lies in the south.
“So we need to abolish the income tax, we need to lower the corporate tax, we need to remove all unnecessary regulations, we need to get a grip on crime and we need to modernize our school system,” Fleming said.
Although Fleming plans to abolish the income tax, the question remains as to where the government will get the revenue to offset the losses.
“The first thing I can tell you is that we spend too much and waste too much, just like the federal government. There’s a lot of waste there, we could start to address it. And second, if we get more companies and more people into the industry, we’ll have more taxpayers, but they’ll pay less,” Fleming said.
Fleming believes industry will come to the state if a lucrative environment is created for starting businesses and hiring new employees.
Fleming still has to submit his income tax repeal to the governor and state legislature. That could happen during next year’s budget session.
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