WBRZ: Jindal calls for elimination of La. income, corp. taxes
media mentionPosted: Jan 10, 2013 2:57 PM by Russell Jones
Updated: Jan 10, 2013 2:57 PM
BATON ROUGE – Gov. Bobby Jindal called today for the elimination of all state income and corporate taxes as a way to boost Louisiana’s economy.
The governor’s office posted the comments on Jindal’s official Twitter account this afternoon. Jindal tweeted the plan would “put more money in pockets of [Louisiana] families” and make the state more attractive to companies. He also called the state’s tax code “too complex”, and said it held back economic prosperity in the state.
Jindal’s office hasn’t released details of the plan, but said it would be revenue-neutral by raising the state’s sales tax to make up for the shortfall in revenue, while also working to keep those rates as low as possible.
A 2012 study by the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, however, claimed states with no income taxes were being outperformed economically by states with higher tax rates.
The study compared economic indicators from nine states with no income taxes to nine other “high rate” states, including unemployment, household income growth and total economic growth. It found in all three instances the states with the higher income tax rates did equal to or better than states without income taxes.