As governor, Campbell would try to eliminate the state's individual and corporate income taxes and replace them with a fee on oil and gas processing and distribution in Louisiana, a proposal he drummed year after year in the Legislature.
Critics say Campbell is too quick to point to the proposal as a cure for all ills and that it would stifle one of Louisiana's staple economic sectors, send an antibusiness message to the rest of the nation and place too much reliance on a single source of revenue to support the state budget.
According to Campbell, the fee would generate $5.5 billion a year, more than half the amount of the current state general fund and well more than the $3 billion the plan would give up in income taxes. He says the new resources would pay for improvements in health care, education, roads and coastal restoration. He paints it as a fight against worldwide industrial giants on behalf of poor and middle-class people.
Current Governor Bobby Jindal's proposal to eliminate state income taxes:
Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration is considering the elimination of state taxes on oil and gas extraction as part of the governor's tax overhaul for the upcoming legislative session, according to the state Department of Revenue. No decision has been made on whether the final version of the plan will include the repeal of the so-called severance taxes but nearly all forms of taxes, with the exception of property taxes, are now on the table, department spokesman Doug Baker said Friday evening.
So what we're saying here is we're fine with eliminating the income tax so long as we don't ask oil and gas to pay for it for us.
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Also, if you remember your T. Harry Williams, it was raising the Severance Tax (and pretty much only that) that enabled Huey to enact his projects (roads, schools, and turning LSU from pathetic to legitimate).
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