Jindal's tax proposal could cost Louisiana $500 million to $650 million in revenue, think tank says

Louisiana could lose between $500 million and $650 million in revenue from Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to swap sales tax for the state's income tax, according to an early analysis of the proposal released by the Public Affairs Research Council on Thursday. The report from the non-partisan Baton Rouge think tank calls into question the methods used by the Jindal in reaching its conclusion that the plan would be revenue-neutral, or continue to bring the same amount of money into state coffers as the existing tax structure.

"As this discussion of tax reform begins, lawmakers, government leaders and staff, the media and the public must insist on objective and realistic assumptions about the costs and gains of each proposal on the table," according to the report.

Tim Barfield, the executive counsel for the Department of Revenue, disputed the report's findings in a news release Thursday, arguing that the methods used by his agency were valid and had been shared with PAR.

Jindal's tax proposal would completely eliminate personal income and corporate taxes and replace them with a higher, broader sales tax. The state's sales tax rate would increase from 4 percent to 5.88 percent under the proposal, which includes taxes on services and the elimination of some existing tax exemptions.

More at http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/03/jindals_tax_proposal_could_cos.html#incart_m-rpt-2 .