Louisiana progressives let out a sign of relief this Sunday to see that Louisiana voters rejected all four proposed amendments to the constitution on Saturday’s ballot. No proposed amendment received more than 37% support from voters.
The most contentious on the ballot was proposed Amendment No. 2, an expansive proposal that would have lowered the maximum rate for income tax, increased the income tax deduction for people over 65 and restricted how much lawmakers can increase spending from one year to the next. The proposed amendment would also have cut $2 billion towards education in Louisiana.
Gov. Jeff Landry, who had endorsed all four proposed amendments, blamed liberal propaganda for the ballot results.
“The primary goal of Amendment 2 was to create a better opportunity for our citizens. To work towards inviting people into our State rather than have them leave,” Landry said. “Unfortunately, Soros and far-left liberals poured millions into Louisiana with propaganda and outright lies about Amendment 2.”
Louisiana Democrats said the ballot results were a “resounding defeat” for the governor.
“Together, with voters from every party, people came to the conclusion that the constitutional amendments were at best misguided – at worst an attempt to give tax breaks to the rich while locking up more of our children,” Louisiana Democrats said in a statement, referencing proposed Amendment No. 3 which would have given the state legislature the ability to expand the list of crimes that people under the age of 17 can be charged as adults with.
“That is not the Louisiana values we stand for. Let us take this victory and continue to build toward a more equitable prosperous future for everyone in our state.”
“Although we are disappointed in tonight’s results, we do not see this as a failure.” Landry said. “We will continue working to give our citizens more opportunities to keep more of their hard-earned money and provide a better future for Louisianians. This is not the end for us, and we will continue to fight to make the generational changes for Louisiana to succeed.”
