Constitutional Amendments: No. 2 Will Bite You!

Here are our recommendations on the Constitutional Amendments on the election ballot statewide in Louisiana on Saturday, November 13.

CONSTITUTIONAL 

AMENDMENTS

Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021

No. 1 — Centralized Sales Tax Collection Statewide — All sales taxes would be collected by the State of Louisiana instead of by each parish. It sounds good, but something happened here in Central that makes us question this proposal.  Our concern is local governments losing their independence to the State of Louisiana.  

Under current law, each parish designates a governmental entity as the sole sales tax collector in the parish. In East Baton Rouge Parish, it is the City-Parish Department of Finance.

Back in 2005, when Central voted to incorporate, a suit was filed to block incorporation.  While the case was being decided, City of Central sales taxes were collected by the City-Parish Department of Finance, which was controlled by Mayor-President Kip Holden.  

However, Holden told the leaders of the new City of Central he would not transmit tax collections to the new City of Central until all legal appeals on incorporation were resolved.  That took three years!  During that time, the City Parish kept 90 percent of the taxes rightfully belonging to the City of Central.  Central never got those funds back! 

What if this constitutional amendment passed and Gov. John Bel Edwards or some future governor decided to do the same thing?  If Central didn’t follow one of his mandates or do anything else he said, could he withhold Central’s sales tax revenue until the city complied?  We don’t know, but we know what happened from 2005 to 2008! We will vote NO on Amendment No. 1.

NO. 2 — Stelly Plan II —This removes your federal income taxes paid as a deduction on your state income tax return.  This was done before in 2002. It was the so-called Stelly Plan, which was wildly unpopular and resulted in the defeat of many Louisiana legislators.  This time they have it neatly packaged once again as “tax reform.”

At present, individual Louisiana taxpayers save $690 million in state income taxes as a result of being able to deduct their federal tax paid from their taxable income for state income tax purposes.  The current Louisiana Constitution prevents your income from being taxed twice — once on your income and a second time on the taxes that you paid.  If this passes, individual taxpayers will pay a tax on a tax!

It’s all very complicated to understand now, but when your tax bill arrives, you will understand it very well!  You’re going to pay a lot more in state income taxes!

Here’s the bait and switch: The constitutional amendment says it gives the legislature the power to repeal the deduction of federal taxes. That makes it sound like maybe they won’t!  But here’s the thing: The legislature has already passed  Act 395 of 2021, which provides that automatically if the voters pass Amendment No. 2, then Act 395 goes into effect!  That act repeals the deduction of federal taxes paid.  So they’ve already got it all figured out!  Just like always!  If you trust the politicians at the Capitol, go ahead and vote yes.  If you don’t trust them, better vote NO, because this is going to put it to the taxpayers, especially middle income, working families! NO on Amendment No. 2!

No. 3 — Taxing Authority of New Levee Districts — This simply gives newly-created levee district the same taxing authority as those previously created. YES on Amendment No. 3. 

No. 4 — Raid of Dedicated Funds — The governor and the legislature are required by the state constitution to balance the state budget.  At present, they can skim 5% off the top of every dedicated fund in the state treasury to balance the budget.  This would allow them to skim 10% off the top of each fund.  Most dedicated funds should not exist.  In a small way, this will allow government to continue without increasing taxes. YES on Amendment No. 4.

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Here’s a brain twister: Despite every manner of propaganda, persuasion, payoff, shaming, threat, layoff, and punishment, 54.7 percent of Louisianians are not fully vaccinated.  Why?

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HONEST QUESTIONS.  So you want to mandate vaccines on everyone?  You want the federal, state or local government to mandate vaccines?  You want private companies to mandate vaccines?  Do you realize that federal law gives vaccine manufacturers TOTAL IMMUNITY from liability for any adverse reaction or even death that a person who is vaccinated experiences?  

So who is going to be responsible for the hospitalization, loss of income, injury or death of such a person?  Not the manufacturer or the President or the Governor or the Congressmen or the university or the airline or the hospital, that’s for sure!  

Are YOU going to pay for their suffering?  Unless YOU are responsible or at least have some plan to compensate people you are advocating be vaccinated against their will, then YOU are part of perpetuating a great injustice!

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AN ACCOUNTING. There must be an accounting, both civil and criminal, for the harm these petty tyrants have done at the local, state and federal levels. RICO investigations and prosecutions are an appropriate vehicle.

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CRASHING DOWN: The bizarre little world JBE has been creating for us is crashing down. He has abandoned vaccine mandates and mandatory testing for state employees and for  Tiger Stadium. Now the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal has kicked his suit against the legislature out of court. The court said all statutes are presumed constitutional. When the governor refused to recognize the legislature terminating his emergency declaration, he was the lawbreaker!

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What a great opportunity Covid has been for the Chinese Communist Party and the hard left in America to teach us to do as we are told upon their command!  Using our irrational fear, they have Americans doing what we have never before been willing to do — lay down every one of our liberties for a false promise of safety.  Remember this: For the Left, the issue is never the issue.  It is always about the Revolution!  

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CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION.  Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, the Archbishop for the U.S. Military Services, said last week, “No one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience.” 

Catholic troops have a legitimate religious objection to taking the vaccine, he said, regardless of whether abortion-related tissue was used in its creation or testing.

The Archdiocese for the Military Services has responsibility for 1.8 million service members and their families at 220 installations around the world. 

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NATURAL IMMUNITY caused by having had Covid will make you 27 times less likely to get a second Covid infection than from being vaccinated, according to a study of 700,000 people in Israel.  At least 15 studies have shown a prior infection is more powerful than being vaccinated.

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THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION is ignoring the security of the our citizens by opening the borders.  He is ignoring the safety of Americans in Afghanistan by abandoning them.  He is ignoring the security of the world by leaving billions of dollars in sophisticated weapons in the hands of the bloodthirsty terrorist Taliban. Now he is shredding the Constitution by taking over our health care system and trying to forcibly mandate medication.

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REMEMBER THE HEROES? Remember the wonderful doctors and nurses who were our heroes for fighting the Covid just a few months ago?  It’s funny but now those same people who choose not to be vaccinated are mindless, selfish anti-vaxxers who shouldn’t have a job in the medical profession!

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FOLLOW THE SCIENCE. Yes, it all makes perfect sense! When you walk into a restaurant, be sure to have your mask on!  Love your community!  Then sit there a foot from your neighbor and take your mask off!  It’s okay because eating is a necessity and the virus knows better than to be transmitted when you are eating!

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WHY I HATE MASKS. How can criminals, Nazis, and communists do such evil things to people? They see others as objects not people. They do see black, white, male and female. Masks hide our uniqueness and facilitate evil.

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WHAT YOU WILL MISS.  Long ago someone told me, “In life, it’s not the things you never had that you will miss — things like wealth or power or fame.  It’s the things you already have that are taken away — our freedom or our health or our loved ones, friends, or relationships.”   We have blessings all around us that when lost will never return. 

Treasure them while you can!