Moon Griffon Says Don Briggs Is ‘Cutting A Deal’ With Gov. Jindal Over Tax Swap Plan

On Wednesday, Louisiana Oil & Gas Association President Don Briggs announced his support for La. Gov. Bobby Jindal's tax reform plan. Briggs says while a specific bill has not been put forth yet, "the oil and gas industry certainly looks forward to reviewing the bill."

Briggs' announcement did not sit well with Moon Griffon. In Briggs' announcement, he mentioned that through LOGA's conversations with Jindal, "the administration has indicated that the oil and natural gas service sector would remain exempt from the sales tax on services." On The Moon Griffon Show, he accused Briggs of "cut(ting) your deal with the governor...you made sure your people were taken care of." Briggs responded by saying:

I didn't cut a deal. We went in and looked at ourselves and how we can make this thing revenue neutral across the board.

Briggs also talked about how LOGA has been working with Texas Accounting Firm to see how Jindal's tax swap plan would work for them, comparing their tax burden now to what it would be under Jindal's proposal. "We want to see if we're competitive," said Briggs. "Sometimes it's a lot better to be a part of the solution than it is being on the other side of it."

Briggs then went on to talk about how he believes this will be good for the state of Louisiana:

We reached a compromise by looking at all aspects of this plan and laying it out so that we can help the industry (and) help the state of Louisiana, because the plan that we have and the way we structured it, it's going to be good for Louisiana. It's going to create more jobs. It's going to create more drilling activity. Some parts of it we really don't like. Some parts of it we do like.

Moon then told Briggs other businesses would "get crushed, but you cut your deal...If all the businesses get exempt, then how do they produce the revenue?"

Moon also took issue with a comment that Briggs made, in which he said, "We provided a lot of up front money for the Governor and for his plan, because he needed up front money to help pay for this...We're trying to keep ourself revenue neutral rather than to have a tax on us." Briggs responded by saying, "Jindal needed up front money to help fund a lot of these changes." Briggs then went on to explain how they would use wells that they get in exemption and spread an exemption over seven years, allowing the Jindal administration to get more revenue up front during years that "are really big producing years...that allows them (Jindal administration) income that they don't get today."

Moon then ended the interview by reiterating his point that Briggs "cut your deal" and welcomed Briggs back anytime. CLICK BELOW to listen to the interview: