House Democrats say Jindal bowed to 'political reality' in shelving tax plan

Rep. John Bel Edwards said Gov. Bobby Jindal bowed "to political reality" when the governor announced he was going to be shelving his contentious tax swap. He also decried the governor's use of "one-time money" to fund higher education and his refusal to opt into the federal Medicaid expansion.

The Amite legislator made the comments Monday during the Louisiana House Democratic Caucus' response to Jindal's speech, which opened the 2013 legislative session.

"He did bow to political reality. There's no doubt there was no support in the state of Louisiana, in the business community, in our churches, even in either party for the highest sales tax in the nation," Edwards said.

Jindal spent the past several months pushing his tax plan, which would have swapped the income and corporate taxes in favor of a higher sales tax. Jindal then announced he was going to be shelving the plan during his 1 p.m. address to the Legislature.

More at http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/04/democrats_jiindal_response.html#incart_maj-story-1 .