BATON ROUGE — More than a dozen bills that would repeal the state’s income taxes over time were deferred indefinitely by their House authors on Monday, a decision that one local lawmaker said was the right one.

Rep. Mike Danahay, D-Sulphur, sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, where the bills were to be heard. He said he does not believe any income tax repeal measures will resurface during the rest of the session and that lawmakers need “a substantial amount of time” to consider the effort.

Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, who chairs the committee, said he preferred that lawmakers defer their measures. Robideaux said he made the decision after speaking with House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, and reviewing reports by the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry that opposed the effort.

“It’s a difficult, but I think, necessary action,” Robideaux said.

The deferrals come a week after Gov. Bobby Jindal told lawmakers that he was shelving his own income tax repeal effort and asked lawmakers to consider their own measures. However, the governor issued a statement saying it will be a “missed opportunity” if legislators don’t work to repeal income taxes.

“Eliminating income taxes is the single best thing we can do to create jobs in Louisiana,” Jindal said.

Kleckley issued a statement, saying that “it would not be fiscally responsible if (lawmakers) moved a bill removing the state income tax without replacing the revenue.”

Danahay agreed, saying he was still unclear as to why Jindal was pushing the effort.

“We have one of the lowest personal income taxes in the nation (and) the lowest property tax in the nation,” he said. “The question begged to be asked is why you would even want to do this.”

During the meeting, Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, voluntarily withdrew six of his tax reform measures. He jokingly asked if Robideaux could skip reading all of the opposition cards written by individuals and state agencies.

Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Baton Rouge, said he was disappointed that the committee did not discuss any of the measures that were filed.

“I’ve heard quite a few objections, but I’d also like to point out that there are a lot of people for tax reform,” he said. “They just happen to be working and paying taxes. So they couldn’t be here today.”

Rep. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, who sits on the committee, told Ivey that “the longer you stay in this process, you have a lot of disappointments.”

Louisiana State Capital