Tax Exemptions Skyrocket on Jindal’s Watch

Photo courtesy of draketoulouse.com

February 19, 2012 by tomaswell

"As incredible as that might sound, consider his (Gov. Bobby Jindal's) veto last year of a 4-cent-a-pack cigarette tax because he didn’t want to impose any new taxes.

Forget for the moment that the cigarette tax was a renewal, not a new tax.

And forget, if you will, that he was not opposed to an increase in college tuition because, in his words, it was not a tax but a fee.

Forget, too, that his veto of the cigarette tax was in effect turning his back on $50 million a year in badly-need revenue—$12 million directly from tax revenue and an additional $38 million in federal matching funds.

And finally, don’t remind him of his bumbling, stumbling, fumbling of two federal grants totaling $140 million. Those included $60 million in funding for early childhood education and $80 million to fund broadband internet connection to 21 rural parishes.

And the reason there is a crisis in the state retirement systems is because the Legislature and Jindal simply reneged on the state’s contribution requirements."

Read the entire article here.