Louisiana Democratic Party Releases Video on Jindal Flip-Flop

BATON ROUGE — Democratic leaders in the Louisiana House and Senate today called for a renewed focus on the state budget and rejected Gov. Bobby Jindal’s irresponsible tax proposal, which resembles a similar plan that Jindal dismissed in 2011 as harmful to education and health care.

In 2011, Jindal dismissed a plan to eliminate the income tax that did not replace revenues — just as Jindal offered yesterday — and said:

“We don’t take this as a serious proposal unless they present us a plan of how they would do this without devastating education and health care. So we want to see their spending plan, and until we see that, we’re not taking this seriously.”

In response to Jindal’s flip-flop, the Louisiana Democratic Party today released the following video highlighting Jindal’s remarks from two years ago:

“Governor Jindal’s proposal du jour — if you can even call it a proposal — is quite simply irresponsible,” said Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson. “The Governor himself shot down a similar plan just two years ago. Whatever the reason for his apparent flip-flop, it’s wrong for Louisiana families. We believe the focus needs to be on our state budget, which has been cut to the bone over the past few years. Higher education, our kids’ schools, health care — all of it has been slashed, while the Governor has given away the farm in tax breaks.”

“It’s very hypocritical for him to take this position now,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair John Bel Edwards. “The Governor is looking to court folks outside of Louisiana instead of addressing the concerns we have here. We need to be focusing on the budget, and until we can adequately fund our priorities, we should not even begin to discuss dismantling our tax system.”

“Today we heard from Louisianans who have disabilities, from senior citizens and others who talked about how the cuts will negatively impact their lives if Governor Jindal’s budget recommendations are adopted,” said House Speaker Pro Tempore Walt Leger. “The most important bill in this session is the budget bill.”

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