Poor Grover. Bobby let him down.
by digby
I wrote a bit about Bobby Jindal’s troubles (stemming from his dystopian hellscape budget) over the week-end. Here’s Benjy Sarlin at TPM with more details:
Grover Norquist, the intellectual leader of the anti-tax crowd in Washington, had praised Jindal’s plan as “the boldest, most pro-growth state tax reform in U.S. history.” He noted that it was particularly significant, because with Obama positioned to veto anything resembling the House GOP’s budget for the next several years, Louisiana might be Republicans’ best chance to show off their tax ideas on the state level.
“The national media and Acela-corridor crowd continue to focus on the bickering Washington, but they can learn what real tax reform looks like by looking to Louisiana,” Norquist said.
It didn’t turn out that way. Only 27 percent of Louisiana voters supported the plan in the latest SMOR poll versus a whopping 63 percent opposed. The idea didn’t even garner majority support among Republicans.
According to SMOR pollster Bernie Pinsonat, Jindal’s true approval is likely even lower than their mid-March poll indicated.
“The decline there came from his political style, his travel out of state, his budget cuts, additional talk of more budget cuts, and of course the tax plan,” Pinsonat said. “But after the survey, there were two or three major things that happened that absolutely would have made these numbers worse.”
Opposition to his plan expanded in early April as religious leaders joined advocates for the poor in complaining the sales tax increase would hurt working families. Jindal’s staff countered that they’d make sure the cost of the tax cuts would mostly fall on businesses instead of individuals, but that concession prompted the influential Louisiana Association of Business and Industry to come out against it as well. Meanwhile, an analysis by the non-partisan Public Affairs Research Council suggested that Jindal would need to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars more in revenue to make the numbers add up at all. With both the progressive left and pro-market right united against it, Republicans in the legislature began to rebel.
Today, Bobby made the only rational decision:
Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) is pulling a plan to replace the income and corporate tax with a new sales tax amid an outcry from groups ranging from clergy to business lobbyists.
“I realize that some of you think I haven’t been listening. But you’ll be surprised to learn I have been,” Jindal will say in an address to the state legislature, according to prepared remarks released to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “And here is what I’ve heard from you and from the people of Louisiana — yes, we do want to get rid of the income tax, but governor you’re moving too fast and we aren’t sure that your plan is the best way to do it.”
No, they’re sure Bobby. They hate it.
I hope Grover’s enjoying today’s Thatcherfest because he’s got his work cut out for him. If the GOP’s dystopian hellscape won’t sell in Louisiana, I can’t imagine where it will.
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