Blanco to launch special session today | New Orleans Times-Picayune

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Blanco to launch special session today
State business taxes to be main focus

Sunday March 07, 2004
By Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco for the first time will address the full Legislature this evening as she launches a special lawmaking session devoted to business tax changes critical to her economic development and budget-balancing plans.

While she enjoys broad support among lawmakers for her oft-repeated campaign promise to eliminate taxes that hamper business investment, she already is bedeviled by the details of her proposal to phase them out over eight years and to postpone the first reduction until 2005, a much slower pace than the business community and many others would like.

"I don't think we can afford to wait any longer," said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, who plans to file a competing bill that would eliminate the taxes entirely Jan. 1. "If everyone agrees these taxes are holding us back, then why are we waiting?"

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