State income tax increase dedicated to higher education is proposed
by Jan Moller - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Warning that looming cuts to higher education could hurt Louisiana for a generation or more, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee called Monday for a temporary increase in state income taxes if the money is targeted to colleges and universities. State Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, said his preference would be for a reinstatement of the "Stelly plan" income tax increases, but that he would also be open to other tax increases provided they are temporary and the money is used to help colleges and universities that are threatened by cuts of at least $290 million next year. That's when the federal economic stimulus dollars that have been supporting colleges are scheduled to expire and Medicaid costs are projected to climb, creating a budget "cliff" of at least $1.6 billion. "Without the strong united leadership of all of our organizations and government officials, the dismantling of education will become the coffin to bury our state in for decades to come," Nevers said, becoming the first member of Gov. Bobby Jindal's leadership team in the Legislature to call for higher taxes as part of the solution. The Stelly plan, which was approved by voters in 2002 and repealed by the Legislature in 2008, raised income taxes on middle and upper-income taxpayers while eliminating the state sales tax on food and utilities.