La. House Speaker Chuck Kleckley Delaying Any Debate Of Gov. Jindal’s Tax Swap Plan

A day after a poll was released showing La. Gov. Bobby Jindal's popularity falling fast, with very low support for his tax reform plan, La. House Speaker Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles says the bill will be set aside while they await internal analysis of the governor's proposal.

The House Ways & Means Committee was supposed to discuss Jindal's tax reforms during a scheduled meeting Wednesday morning, but that was canceled. Speaker Kleckley and Committee Chairman Joel Robideaux, who's sponsoring the bill, agreed that was the proper move. Speaker Kleckley says "there was no reason at this point to have any hearings on the administration's package" until they get numbers on the administration's package that they have now requested from the legislative fiscal office:

Until we get those numbers we're going to go ahead and move forward with member's bills and start hearing member's legislation next week.

The tax plan would end personal and corporate income taxes, and replace that revenue, nearly $3 billion worth, with an increased and broadened state sales tax base. Kleckley says he wants House & Senate members to have as much information as possible to help them make good decisions on the tax reforms:

There is strong support throughout the legislature to do away with the income tax. The biggest question is: How do you replace that money and what do you replace it with?

Numerous attempts by KPEL to contact Rep. Joel Robideaux have been unsuccessful.