Newly-elected Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, is threatening to cut collegiate athletics from the state’s budget if he doesn’t get the tax hikes he wants, The Advocate reports.
“If the legislature fails to act and we are forced to proceed with these cuts … student athletes across the state at those schools will be ineligible to play next semester,” Edwards said Thursday. “That means you can say farewell to college football next fall.” Edwards was speaking in a rare, televised statewide address.
Louisiana’s legislature is about to start a three-week session over budget negotiations. Legislators must close a $940 million budget gap before June 30. Edwards, however, says Louisiana State University would run out of money after April 30. That could mean hospital closings, in addition to the aforementioned cuts to athletics.
Edwards is proposing millions of dollars in tax hikes, through sales tax increases, cigarette tax increases as well as other new revenue. State Treasurer John Kennedy, a Republican, blasted Edwards’s proposal, calling it “the largest tax increase in our state’s history.”
Polling released Tuesday by Harper Polling showed that only five percent of Louisianans think their taxes are too low. The specific proposals Edwards is calling for garnered strong opposition, although the questions were worded to lean against the tax hikes. Nearly three in four Louisianans strongly oppose an income tax hike, two in three strongly oppose a sales tax hike, and half strongly oppose enforcing the state sales tax on online shopping. The poll was commissioned by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity – Louisiana.
Louisiana State competes in the Southeastern Conference and has one of the best college football programs in the nation. In 2015, the school averaged more than 93,000 fans at its home games, seventh-most in the nation. LSU has won two national championships in the last 12 years.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
