Letter: Jindal tax plan would be disater

After Mitt Romney lost the presidential election, I thought Gov. Bobby Jindal planned to return to the reality-based world. He argued against dumbed-down conservatism, argued for broadening the tent to include more voters and he even broke with the Catholic Church on oral contraceptives.

However, I am now certain he has given up good sense as one of his New Year’s resolutions. On Jan. 10, he unveiled his plan for the upcoming legislative session: No more corporate or personal income taxes. Instead, he’ll raise the state sales tax rate by 3 percentage points.

It makes a good slogan, but it will be an unqualified disaster for Louisiana.

Let me explain what will happen if Jindal’s half-baked tax plan goes through.

We will have another revenue crisis just like we have had every year since 2008. The Legislature will pass a budget, and then Jindal will line-item veto what he wants to cut, often disciplining disloyal legislators in the process. The midyear cuts will be worse than before. Jindal will use his post-session power to slash and burn and privatize at will without legislative oversight. He will destroy state institutions and services.

Residents living near the border with Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi will shop outside of Louisiana. Many folks with Internet access will avoid taxes by shopping online.

The poor will see their tax burden skyrocket, and the rich will sing Jindal’s song for saving them a huge tax bill.

But don’t some states eschew income taxes? Yes, but they have high property taxes, which Louisiana will never accept or approve.

To learn more about the facts and ethics of these sorts of tax schemes, I invite you to read the work of Professor Susan Pace Hamill, a tax expert and law professor in Alabama. Hamill, a devout Methodist layperson, shows that these tax plans are designed to oppress the poor, and they do not meet the moral smell test. She argues that this kind of sales tax scheme is not Christian and morally repugnant. (Her writings are widely available online.)

If you hate the poor, this tax plan is for you. If you want to see Louisiana continue to approach Third World status, this tax plan is for you. If you are a young rising star in the Republican Party and want to get cozy with kingmaker Grover Norquist, this tax plan is for you.

Regardless, be careful of what you wish for. The chickens are already coming home to roost in Louisiana, and reckless Bobby Jindal won’t be gone until January 2016.

Dayne Sherman

librarian

Ponchatoula

Comments

1) Comment by DMJ - 16/01/2013

Here's the thing about this plan: it's impossible to know the extent of the effect it will have on the budget, as it will depend solely on sales taxes. This will allow Jindal to act really surprised that he's running a series of deficits that he must deal with by making hard choices, like shafting people with less money. Yeah, that's a real hard choice for a Republican. This whole thing stinks.

2) Comment by Attila - 16/01/2013

Twinkie: If Lil Booby had been running only in N B. R. you are right. He would have come in dead last...While I am very disappointed in Lil Booby I am grateful that there are not more voters in the mold of the ones in N B.R....uninformed...with their hands out...palm up.

3) Comment by twinkie1cat - 16/01/2013

For postscript: First the turnout was low. If he had been running in North Baton Rouge only he would have been in last place. Second he was the only candidate with campaign money---$5 million I heard. The second place candidate, a teacher from North Louisiana, had about $10,000 and a volunteer LSU undergrad running her campaign. Bobby had the name recognition and the advertising money and , in the only fair forum for discussing the issues, a debate at LSU , he refused to appear. ........ Plus Louisiana has another problem. Especially in the more rural parts of the state, a candidate who is "pro-life", (which means ONLY anti-abortion, not even taking care of a child as he is being born and denying them good schools and quality medical care and mental health, even to the point of throwing them in a nursing home (for profit, of course) when they are dying, ) will get votes. This is because the Catholics and the Louisiana Family Forum tells them they are going to hell if they vote for anyone else.

4) Comment by twinkie1cat - 16/01/2013

Republicans have no sense of reality, only of what their little Grinchy hearts want. The more mercenary a Republican politician appears to be the more likely he is to be popular with them and maybe, just maybe they won't notice that Jindal is small, brown, has a whiny voice and talks too fast. This will be especially true if they decide they really want to change their face a little. They might be able to pass him off as Mexican. ..... As for Bobby lasting until 2016 with the enemies he is making of state and school employees, if everyone will get behind their state legislators and tell them to unite for impeachment of Bobby, maybe 2012 could be his last full year in office. Surely at this point there are enough grounds with his busting open of transparency laws and double paying his clones. I mean if the Louisiana Family Forum can stop or amend bills, why shouldn't the Republicans who are tired of being bossed by Jindal and the Democrats get together and get rid of him.

5) Comment by DMJ - 16/01/2013

"we need to make certain online retailer are required to collect the tax." And just how would we do that? The vast majority of online retailers are located in other states. I guess we could pass a national law stating that online retailers must collect sales tax and remit them to the state in which the purchaser resides. Call me skeptical, but somehow I don't think one of our major political parties will let that happen.

6) Comment by agagent - 16/01/2013

The plan continues the sales tax exemptions for food, household utilities and prescription drugs to lower the impact on the poor. It is a plan to grow the economy and reduce dependence on government. Democrats like to shrink the economy, grow government and government control, while growing dependence on government. That may win them some votes but it will eventually bankrupt the country.

7) Comment by crazycajun - 16/01/2013

L'il booby made the same ignorant claim about the tax payer keeping money in his pocket when he repealed the Stelly Plan. He made the claim and I quote,"the average single filer would see an extra $500 annually in his pocket". What he neglected to say was that single filer would have to make $90,000/yr. to realize this amount. Can u imagine what the $45,000 filer would have pocketed? $10 dollars/paycheck. This action by booby with the Steely repeal has helped to create our deficits every year he's been in office. That and lowering the corp. tax by 80%. Starve programs financially, declare them broken, then say privatization is the only fix. I said that four years ago and was chastised for saying it. Now who was the smart one?

8) Comment by postscript56 - 16/01/2013

I wonder how many folks earning less than, say, $60K per year voted for Bobby not once but twice? Because if this plan passes every last one of them just got it up the you-know-what.

9) Comment by Bighug - 16/01/2013

The sales tax in the area where I live is already 9.5%. Can you imagine the effect a 12.5% sales tax will have? Dwayne is correct. The King's plan is merely another way to reduce taxes for the rich and increase them for the poor and middle class.

10) Comment by ScotB - 15/01/2013

In an article on this subject elsewhere in The Advocate, it was mentioned that not charging sales tax for online purchases costs Louisiana $800M each year......almost a billion dollars!!! We should certainly make sure our brick and mortar retailers are not put at a further competitive disadvantage. if Governor Jindal moves forward with this plan, we need to make certain online retailer are required to collect the tax, also. We need our retailers, who provide convenience, jobs, property taxes, and other benefits to communities.