Let me respond with a few points, the first being that all immigrants pay taxes, income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, cigarette taxes, every tax when they make a purchase.

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

They want the things Louisiana already has. What they don't want is income taxes and sales taxes as high as we have in the metropolitan areas.

Individual income tax is due on April 15, filing and payment. The real property tax deadline is February 20 for the first installment, and April 20 for the second installment. We're going to accept the 2005, and within the 2005 the Earned Income Tax Credit will be allowed in the tax return.

We would like to see local taxes be more balanced and not overly rely on the sales tax. On the other hand, both statewide and presumably locally, we're not only interested in fairness, but we're also interested in adequate revenue for the state and presumably the local government, too.

Because the truth is, today's immigrants, as they have for generation after generation, work the longest hours at the hardest jobs for the lowest pay, jobs that are just about impossible to fill.