Senators are expressing skepticism about some assumptions House lawmakers used to balance next year's budget.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Senators are expressing skepticism about some assumptions House lawmakers used to balance next year's budget.
The Senate Finance Committee began combing through the House's $25 billion bipartisan budget Thursday, to decide what senators might want to change.
Sen. Greg Tarver, of Shreveport, questioned how the House decided to plug $200 million from a planned tax amnesty program into its budget. The program would allow delinquent taxpayers to pay their debts without or with lessened penalties and interest.
The Legislature's chief economist, Greg Albrecht, says he doesn't know where the House came up with its amnesty estimate for the budget. Albrecht says he wouldn't advise plugging any of it into next year's budget.
Other questions were raised about the estimates assumed in the House budget proposal for trimming tax break programs.