A House committee on Monday advanced a proposal to phase out the sales tax used to cement last year’s budget deal ahead of schedule.

The 0.45 percent tax currently is scheduled to sunset in 2025. Under House Bill 599, in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the tax would decrease to 0.35 percent, then 0.25 percent the next year, 0.15 percent the year after until being completely eliminated by 2023.

The change would cost the state about $87 million the first year and increase to $392 million by the 2023-2024 budget year, or about $914 million over five years, according to Legislative Fiscal Office estimates.

Rep. Lance Harris, the Alexandria Republican who proposed the early phase-out, pointed to recent growth in state revenue and current surpluses to argue state government is collecting more money than it needs. He further argued the state would be better off leaving that money in the private sector.

“We might be extracting too much money out of the taxpayers’ pocket,” he said.

Kim Robinson, secretary of the Department of Revenue, argued against the bill on behalf of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration. She said the higher state spending for government is driven by rising costs, not expanding government. Her department, for example, has reduced its employee count, she said.

Robinson also noted that Louisiana has the fifth-lowest tax burden of any state, according to the Tax Foundation. She said the current surplus is driven by factors other than higher sales tax collections.

Robinson argued abandoning the hard-fought compromise reached after multiple special sessions risked losing the state’s newfound fiscal stability, after only just getting off Moody’s negative watch list. Rep. Joseph Bouie, D-New Orleans, worried that Harris was being too “bullish” by assuming future surpluses would result from the current tax structure.

“I don’t know why, when the ship is finally not sinking, why we want to jump overboard,” said Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Marksville.