Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration will finally unveil his plan to revamp the state’s tax system today before a joint meeting two legislative committees, the House Ways and Means and Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs.
The meeting starts at 10 a.m.; I will live-blog it here.
In January, Jindal’s office confirmed that he wants to replace the state’s personal income tax and corporate taxes with sales taxes. What hasn’t been clear since then is exactly how much he wants to raise the sales tax rate and which activities he would tax to make up the lost revenue. Jindal has said he wants his plan to be revenue neutral, so he would need to raise about $3 billion in new sales taxes.
Jindal and his top advisers have been meeting privately with legislators at the Governor’s Mansion and with key interest groups to discuss the plan. Today marks the first time it will be outlined in public.
Legislators will have four weeks to hear from their constituents before the legislative session begins on April 8. Jindal will need 70 votes in the 105-member House and 26 in the 39-member Senate to pass his plan.