BATON ROUGE – Despite record revenue flowing into state coffers, the 2007 legislative session ended by sticking the bill for bloated government to taxpayers instead of providing significant tax relief. That’s the message from the free-market citizen group Americans for Prosperity, which is organizing citizens for a Louisiana chapter to be officially added to its 19 state chapters around the nation within weeks. In the meantime, the group is gearing up for a budget fight in Louisiana.

“Spending the surplus we have today will ultimately lead to a fiscal crisis tomorrow. It’s not a matter of if, but when,” said Representative Steve Scalise, AFP Louisiana Advisory Board Chairman. “To the administration that supported squandering the surplus instead of returning it to taxpayers I say: Hey big spenders, taxpayers are fed up.”

AFP Grassroots Coordinator Jason Hebert noted that Louisiana government ranks 4th-highest among the 50 states in spending per capita, even as the state’s population has declined. This year’s record-setting $30 billion budget did nothing to reverse that dangerous trend, instead blowing $3.2 billion in surplus revenue on pork-barrel projects and adding 1,400 taxpayer-funded state employees to the state bureaucracy. Louisiana’s hard-working taxpayers received under $200 million in tax relief, or six one-hundredths of one percent of the total surplus.

“Surplus revenue means the government has overcharged taxpayers,” said Rep. Scalise. “Common sense dictates that when someone pays more than is needed for a product, they should get back the money that was overpaid. This principle holds true for taxpayers. For every new dollar spent on growing government, citizens will receive less than 10 cents on the dollar in tax relief. This is an insult to the hard-working people of this state.”

Louisiana’s spending excesses, including $1 billion for recurring expenditures, will ultimately put the state on shaky fiscal footing due to a boom-and-bust cycle of state budgeting, in which spending accelerates rapidly during the good economic years as revenue increases, and then there is a budget crisis when the economy cools. Because spending programs tend to create entrenched constituencies, the result of this cycle is higher taxes to pay for higher spending.

“Budget surpluses shouldn’t be squandered on pork-barrel projects or used to fund new, ongoing programs because when surpluses evaporate those programs become unsustainable and government comes knocking on taxpayers’ doors for more money,” Hebert concluded. “The budget boat has been sinking, but instead of plugging the holes, lawmakers poured more water in the boat.”

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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