Facing a tougher audience than he had for his stand-up comedy routine before the Washington Gridiron Show, Gov. Bobby Jindal could have used a few jokes to soften up legislative committee members when he outlined his plan last week for massive tax code changes. While his legislation to replace personal and corporate income taxes with higher, broader sales taxes likely will get out of the administration-friendly House Ways and Means Committee in some form, legislators in general are highly skeptical about what it would do to their constituents and the already shaky finances of state government. There is no doubt about who does best without progressive income taxes: wealthy people and big corporations, progressively. The administration offers the example of a teacher making $45,000, filing individually, getting a net tax break of $800, or 1.8%. An individual making $150,000 would save about $5,100, or 3.4%—and the rate goes up from there. Letting the rich get richer comes with the territory of becoming America’s next tax haven. The governor imagines a future Louisiana without income taxes as a beacon luring new businesses and high-income residents to the state, bringing with them investments and high-paying jobs. For as strongly as Jindal claims that the Louisiana economy is performing, he is getting back up in front of audiences this week saying that too many citizens still need jobs or better ones. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
