Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, who heads the Senate Education Committee, believes the Stelly Plan should be temporarily reinstated for two to three years to restore education funding. Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, who heads the Senate Education Committee, believes the Stelly Plan should be temporarily reinstated for two to three years to restore education funding.
Speaking to the Baton Rouge Press Club Monday, Stelly said he favors a reversal of tax breaks for middle- and upper-income taxpayers that were instituted before the national recession, The Advocate reported Tuesday. While he voted to repeal the Stelly Plan, Nevers now believes the best way to stop budget cuts to public colleges is with a temporary tax increase or delays in tax breaks.
The 2008 tax breaks reversed the so-called "Stelly Plan," named for former Lake Charles legislator Vic Stelly, that had six years earlier - with the approval of the Legislature and voters - raised state income taxes for middle- and higher-income filers in exchange for getting rid of state sales tax on food and utilities. The income tax increases were repealed before the national recession took hold, but the sales tax cuts from the Stelly swap remain intact, leaving the state with about $300 million in fewer revenue dollars a year.
Read The Advocate story here.