Talk Of Eliminating Income Tax Will Help Gov. Jindal Nationally

Political blogger Walt Bennetti joined 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today to discuss Governor Jindal's proposal to do away with Louisiana's personal income tax.  Bennetti thinks talking about eliminating state income tax will boost the Governor's profile.  According to Bennetti,

Just talking about eliminating Louisiana income taxes will help Jindal's national image more than actually eliminating state income taxes.

Bennetti went on to say,

The problem in Louisiana as I see it is not the amount that the state collects because the amount we collect is already low at 4 percent and even if they boost it up to 7 percent we're still going to be low.  The problem is the amount that is paid for the local and parish option.  In Texas and Florida, two states we are being compared to because they don't have a state income tax.  Florida pays a state sales tax of 6 percent with a local option of 1.5 percent meaning their total tax is 7.5 percent.  In Texas the state collects 6.25 percent in state sales tax with a two percent local option cap so they're at 8.25 maximum.

On the related subject of property taxes Bennetti said,

There's another rub.  Property taxes in Louisiana are artificially low and that leads to local municipalities increasing sales taxes.  Louisiana pays the lowest percent of property tax value in the country.  We're at .18 percent of a home's value.  Compare that to Texas where they pay 1.81 percent of their home's value.

 

You can hear more of this insightful interview by clicking: