Study ties Jindal tax plan to ALEC

Efforts to overhaul tax codes, such as the effort being pushed in Louisiana by Gov. Bobby Jindal, stem from proposals by a policy advocacy group that would shift the tax burden onto middle and low income households, according to a report released Wednesday.

The source of the tax change proposals is the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, said Erica Williams, a senior policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, based in Washington, D.C. She co-authored a report entitled “ALEC Tax and Budget Proposals Would Slash Public Services and Jeopardize Growth.”

ALEC boasts of having more than 2,000 members, predominantly state and federal legislators, and describes itself as advancing an agenda of “free markets,” “limited government” and “individual liberty.”

Jindal is meeting regularly with small groups of Louisiana legislators to consider eliminating income taxes and replacing the lost revenues with increased sales taxes.

“The plan under consideration in Louisiana right now is the type of plan that would shift the tax burden onto the poor,” Williams said in an interview Wednesday. “It would be very harmful and would affect the state’s ability to deliver key services like health care, education, transportation and building infrastructure, which are the building blocks for a state’s economic growth.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities describes itself as doing research on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families.

Williams said she reviewed ALEC publications and writings, as well as analyzing the proposed drafts of tax overhaul legislation.

“We found that their research is deeply flawed,” Williams said. “A state’s tax and budget system should be designed to create growth. It should be grounded in sound economics and analysis, and unfortunately, ALEC is not that.”

“I have no idea if the governor’s tax plan was motivated by ALEC, you would have to ask the governor that himself,” said Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project in Baton Rouge. “Our concern is that the governor’s plan is the same policy that ALEC promotes, which is cutting taxes on the wealthiest in our state at the expense of the poor.”

The Louisiana Budget Project is an initiative of the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations and is part of a national network of 40 State Fiscal Analysis Initiatives coordinated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“The ALEC policy doesn’t promote the growth of the middle-class,” Moller said. “It encourages cutting government services that often flow to the people who need it the most, like college students, the elderly and people with disabilities.”

Comments

1) Comment by jedleland - 14/02/2013

next you'll be suggesting that jeff saddow is a pathetically emasculated jindal sycophant - not a toady but, even more tragically, a today-wannabe. imagine that as your aspiration? hold on there jeff that call to join the remarkably unpopular jindal administration as its northern-parishes bootlick-in-chief will be coming soon. joking aside, such servility would be unbecoming of a chastised dog let alone a lifelong public sector employee and general taxpayer siphon. have some self respect man.

2) Comment by RODEO CLOWN - 14/02/2013

CRAZYCAJUN/BEABEA: All I can say is "eggg-zack-lee". Politicians(and some political science teachers) have abrogated their responsibility to think objectively, act responsibly, and create policy in the best interest of the governed. Instead, they adopt a “canned” political philosophy, accepting it unquestionably, and sing its praise. I call it a "shake and bake" or “a one size fits all” approach to governing. They have never had an original thought of their own, if the answer can't be found in a textbook, they're lost. So like a “multiple choice mechanic” they “assume” that because another state works a particular way then that's the way it should work in Louisiana and we need to change it. They concentrate more on “reinventing the wheel” rather than understanding how, why and what makes the wheel work. Because of this method little is required of their creativity, the art of compromise is nonexistent and all that is required(at least in their minds) is for them to travel the country singing their praises, posing for photo-ops and explaining to the world how their particular state is so much better off because of their existence--sounds familiar doesn't it. They are literally a legend in their on mind. Jindal has done and is doing long term serious damage to Louisiana and he's to stupid to realize it.

3) Comment by beabea - 14/02/2013

crazycajun: Thank you, and no I don't mind at all. I just wish we could put him (and all the ALEC model legislation) back in the box and return him. The post office would even pick him up for free!!

4) Comment by crazycajun - 14/02/2013

beabea, I like your " governor in a box kit" from ALEC. So appropriate and not only here but every repub governor must have one too. Can't even think for themselves. They have to be led by the hand and told what to do .How pathetic is that? Do you mind if I use it?

5) Comment by RODEO CLOWN - 14/02/2013

(continuation from earlier posting) FACT THREE: REPLACING INCOME TAXES WITH SALES TAXES: If all current sales tax exemptions(STE's) in effect, all 191 exemptions, were repealed(a highly unlikely scenario), the resulting revenue of $2.50 billion would fall short of replacing 2011 state income tax revenue levels of 2.651 billion by over $150 million dollars. Jindal has indicated through Tim Barfield, Sec. Of Revenue, certain STE's would not be repealed and remain in effect. Those STE's exempted, per Tim Barfield, Sec. Of Revenue, from repeal are food for home consumption($334 million), residential utilities($146 million), prescription drugs($239 million), fuel($371 million) totaling 1.090 billion. In addition to these four, I've taken the “liberty” of including STE's exemptions on state and local governmental purchases, $203 million(governmental bodies paying sales taxes is revenue redundancy) and on nonresidential purchases of electricity(business usage, $257 million(non-residential purchasers of electricity(businesses) certainly want be required to pay sales taxes under a Jindal administration) totaling an additional $460 million making the sum total exemptions not unavailable to replace income tax revenue $1.55 billion. With the above STE's remainin in effect, we have a balance of only $950 million available to replace income tax revenue of $2.651 billion dollars leaving us a short fall of over $1.701 billion dollars.

6) Comment by RODEO CLOWN - 14/02/2013

JEFF SADOW I am impressed in your employment of academic terms and concepts to minimize what essentially is a fiscal problem brought onto Louisiana by “backward” thinkers such as Jindal. From day one of Jindal's term, his goal has been to reinvent the revenue generating wheel in Louisiana by “transference” of revenue generation from corporations and businesses on to the backs of the citizens and local governments. Let's examine some facts presented in the 2011 LA Dept of Revenue Report(here comes the facts you said were lacking). FACT ONE: Since 2008, Jindal's first year in office, revenue generated by corporate franchise and income taxes have decreased in excess of $731 million dollars(3/4's of a billion dollar decrease), and represents a 75% decrease in collections. I don't know about you, but my state income taxes surely did not decrease by 75%. Did yours? FACT TWO: SEVERANCE TAXES. Since “Bobby-ty's” first year in office severance tax collections have severance collections from natural gas production decreased by over $193 million dollars from $317 million(2008) to $124 million(2011). Revenue has decreased in spite of the fact that natural gas production in Louisiana has increased from 1.289 billion MCF in 2008 to over 2.900 billion MCF in 2011, a 224% increase in production. However, approximately 70%, 1.997 billion MCF, of natural gas produced in Louisiana(1.987 billion MCF) is granted an exemption from severance tax under a 1994 exemption given to gas produced from horizontally drilled wells. Jindal fought any attempt in 2011 to modify or repeal this exemption. The net result from a revenue standpoint was a loss of almost $300 million dollars in severance revenue. It's called a severance tax for one simple reason. Once the resource is "severed" from the state it can not be replaced. Even though severance tax rates have decreased 14 cents per MCF since 2008, increased production of 224% would more than offset such a loss in revenue, maintained the revenue level and resulted in total severance tax revenue(gas) of $436 million dollars. The moral of this presentation is such, we do not have to reinvent the fiscal wheel in order to save Louisiana. Louisiana has had and has the revenue available to forgo any and all of the cuts forced down Louisiana's throat. The revenue has always been there to maintain state services, prevent tuition increases, provide for the sick and dying, charitable organizations and even provide state employees modest raises without having to make one increase in Louisiana's taxes. The state simply needs a chief executive with the foresight, fortitude and backbone to administer the state in a level headed manner and not administer from the position that the wheel needs to be reinvented and that it is his way or the highway.

7) Comment by mcBR - 14/02/2013

"I have no idea if the governor’s tax plan was motivated by ALEC, you would have to ask the governor that himself." GOOD LUCK! The governor is never without his media goons. Never answers an unscripted questions. All comments are issued remotely from his ivory tower!

8) Comment by Lannonmac - 14/02/2013

Does it surprise anyone that Gov. Jindal is carrying the water for the Koch brother’s and the super-elite? What is sad is how the average Louisiana citizen just eats up the JUNK being dished out by groups like the ALEC, even though their policies make the average guy and gal poorer and more in debt. The only reason groups like the ALEC exist is to draft model state legislation designed to take money out of my (and your!) pocket and put in theirs.

9) Comment by Lannonmac - 14/02/2013

****Comment Removed for Violation of Terms of Use****

10) Comment by swinham - 14/02/2013

jeffsadow: My Mama's term for transference was "the pot calling the kettle black". Has it ever occurred to you that this is a trait you exhibit regularly?

11) Comment by jeffsadow - 14/02/2013

The comments made by those in the article are hilarious and illustrative. I can pull a dozen books off my shelves right now (including those of three Nobel laureates) contradicting the assertion that the research in question is not "grounded in sound economics and analysis." Not that CBPP (or its LA arm the LBP) has much to talk about quality research -- what I've seen of it in other contexts is markedly flawed in its ahistorical and atheoretical approaches. This is what in psychology is called "transferrence" -- to escape an unpleasant perception about an object concerning oneself, you impute it on to others. This further is indicated by the "criticism" that the Jindal plan roughly follows ALEC's recommendation, which in their view seems to disqualify it from any serious consideration. This ad hominem attack is typical of the left, which finds its ideas wanting when compared to conservative alternatives -- as it is unable to marshal fact and reason against them, then resorts to a form of name calling. Classic exposition here of the intellectual bankruptcy of the left.

12) Comment by DMJ - 14/02/2013

Gee whiz....Jindal taking his cues from ALEC?! Next thing you're gonna tell me is that he takes his cues from the LFF as well! What's that? He already DOES?! Big shocker here...

13) Comment by Bouncer - 14/02/2013

What's surprising is that anyone is surprised by this.

14) Comment by swinham - 14/02/2013

beabea, "policy in a box" is so accurate in reference to how ALEC implements its agenda. They say, "Here's our agenda. Our main goal is getting government out of our lives and business in. You know you and your major campaign contributors like it and you don't even have to think, or do much else to put it into action. We provide the legislation, you provide the authors and the votes and, voila, it's a new country!"

15) Comment by Traveler - 14/02/2013

The administration's assault on public education is also an ALEC blueprint. Voters (and The Advocate) would do well to research ALEC's funding sources----and The Advocate should do a follow-up article revealing that information to its readers. The results will explain much.

16) Comment by beabea - 13/02/2013

Jindal's entire agenda seems to come straight from ALEC. It's as if all he had to do was get himself elected, and ALEC would then provide him with a handy "Governor's kit" that contains everything he needs to do. Policies in a box. Just take them out of the ALEC box one at a time and ram them through the legislature. Easy!