BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Governor Bobby Jindal's tax reform plan hasn't even been
announced yet and the haters have already begun to line up.
Jan Moeller is the
director of the Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Budget Project. They do
independent research and analysis of Louisiana fiscal issues and their impact
on low and moderate income residents.
Jindal is proposing to eliminate personal
and corporate income taxes and replace the hole with increased sales tax and
eliminating some tax breaks.
"Our position is if we're going to have a debate about tax
reform we really should be looking to address Louisiana's chronic revenue
problems," says Moeller. "We can't afford emergency shelters for battered
women fleeing abusive relationships. We can't afford mental health care for at
risk kids. We need to grow the revenue pool. We have cut the budget for five
straight years and we've cut it to the bone."
Jindal has been quietly shopping his idea to lawmakers who
will consider it during the next session which starts in August. He will have
to do a good lobbying job because he'll need two-thirds of the vote in both the house and
senate.
We talked to some Louisiana residents outside of a Baton
Rouge store. Do they support the Jindal concept.
"I mean
they take it out of my check, says Samuel Rhymes of Monroe. "They are going to
get it one way or another."
"No not really," says Mitch Alford of Baton Rouge. " We
already pay so much money as it is."
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