As North Carolina considers major reforms to its tax system (HINT: You’ll read more on this topic in this forum a little later this morning), another Southeastern state is tackling the same topic. Katrina Trinko shares with National Review Online readers Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal‘s tax reform ideas.
If Bobby Jindal has his way, Louisiana’s personal and corporate income taxes are headed for extinction.
Jindal wants the tax reform to be “revenue neutral,” and he’s exploring by how much he would have to increase the sales tax (currently 4 percent) in order to achieve that. He’s also meeting with state legislators. Louisiana’s session doesn’t start until April 8, and Jindal’s office intends by then to release a detailed plan, filling in the broad outlines that have been put forward so far.
“Eliminating personal income taxes will put more money back into the pockets of Louisiana families,” Jindal said in a statement earlier this month, “and will change a complex tax code into a more simple system that will make Louisiana more attractive to companies who want to invest here and create jobs.”
The driving idea behind the proposal is to increase growth in the state’s economy. A Tax Foundation analysis cited by the Louisiana Department of Revenue found that “the consensus among experts is that taxes on corporate and personal income are particularly harmful to economic growth, with consumption and property taxes less so.”
