Louisiana will face a $1.5 billion shortfall in 2018 after temporary taxes expire

The Times-Picuyune: BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's lawmakers got an official number for the financial cliff they've created for themselves in 2018: nearly $1.5 billion.

That's how short the state budget will be in the 2018-19 fiscal year when taxes passed earlier this year by lawmakers — mainly a 1 percent state sales tax increase — hit their expiration dates.

The financial update was presented Friday to the joint House and Senate budget committee.

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