Jindal: Out, corporate & income tax. In, increased sales tax.

[Sbane]

Ah, the fuck the poor economic plan. I hope Jindal crashes and burns in the 2016 primaries. I would hate for this guy to be the first Indian American nominee, or god forbid, President.

[Sbane]

On a related note, McDonnell just came out with what Dave Weigel calls a "reducto ad absurdum of hippie bashing" plan to eliminate the gas tax in Virginia, and replace it with a tax on alternative fuel vehicles (plus higher sales taxes):

link

That is absolutely terrible.

It's as if the different Republican 2016 hopefuls are trying to outdo each other in the evil olympics.

[Sbane]

VATs do interest me.  It is incredibly efficient compared to income tax.  Perhaps there is a way to keep it progressive, like if it was done in combination with a simple income tax. 

For example:

Income tax brackets would be up shifted 50k: 0% for first $50,000, 10% for 50,001-58,700, etc., etc.

Then, projected loss of revenue would be matched up with a projected equal gain in revenue for % VAT.

The rich still pay more taxes.  We would also make EBT purchases tax exempt

I think that would still slam the middle class. Maybe if you exempt food and clothing costing less than $30?

[Sbane]

Louisiana does rely on tourism as a major employer and revenue generator.  Would tourists blindly accept that rate or would they decide to go somewhere cheaper?

Actually this is why the plan might actually work (if we ignore the F the poor factor). Lots of people visit New Orleans, and a 3% increase in sales taxes is not going to change that.