Governor Jindal says that the Republican Party has lost the trust of the American people and is determined to regain it. That's great news, but if I might suggest a first step towards regaining that trust - STOP LYING.
In that regard, Jindal's speech is not a good first step. Let me just look at a few of Governor Jindal's lies. First, he touted the Republican alternative to Obama's stimulus. He said it was a tax cut for low income working people and that it would cost less than the Democratic plan and create more jobs. Yet there are sound economic reasons to not believe in this trickle down theory. Here's the analysis of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
http://www.cbpp.org/1-26-09tax2.htmA proposal to cut income tax rates, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to include in economic recovery legislation, would provide its largest benefit to the top fifth of households and prove less effective as economic stimulus than the provision it would replace — President Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax credit.
Under the proposal
Only about the top fifth of households would get the full tax cut.<1> Only those with incomes high enough to place them in the 25 percent bracket or higher — which for a married couple with two children means income of over $90,000<2> — would fully benefit from the cut in the 10 percent and 15 percent brackets.
Higher-income households would get a much bigger tax cut than less-affluent ones. A married couple with two children with income of $100,000 or more would get a tax cut of $3,395. This is 17 times the $200 tax cut that the couple would receive if its income were $30,000.
The Tax Policy Center estimates that more than 47 million low- and moderate-income filers would receive no tax benefit at all from the proposal.<3> To receive even a partial tax cut, a married couple with two children would need income of more than $26,000.<4>
But there's Bobby Jindal trying to redeem the Republican Party by selling the same old magic beans of bigger tax cuts for the wealthy as something that will help everybody. Never mind that "Tax cuts must be spent quickly if they are to stimulate the economy, and research shows that people at lower income levels spend more of any tax cuts they receive than families at higher income levels do."
Research? Research? What does that mean to Republicans who make up their own facts to fit around their ideology? That's what the Bush administration did, and Governor Jindal is offering 'more of the same' while promising to 'earn our trust'.
Governor Jindal also bragged about tax cuts in Louisiana. As Governor, he cut taxes six times, including the largest income tax cut in Louisiana history. It is clear that Jindal is not saying that the Republican Party is changing its message of tax cut, tax cut, tax cut. They still believe that almost every problem can be solved with a tax cut. What he is promising is that if Republicans are given power, this time they will not spend so much money. They will spend less on welfare, on head start, on medicaid, on medicare, on veterans benefits, on SCHIP, on LIHEAP, on unemployment insurance, on food stamps, on education, on roads and bridges, on levees, on the rebuilding of New Orleans ...
Okay, he never specificed which parts of government spending he would slash, but the implication is there that lots of it needs to be slashed so that people can be 'empowered' to solve their own problems instead of being helped by government. And here's the thing about those tax cuts Jindal is so proud of. Their main beneficiaries are the wealthy. Here's the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analyzing those tax cuts and offering an alternative.
http://www.itepnet.org/la0508.pdfOn Wednesday, May 14, 2008, the House Ways and Means Committee approved SB 87, a measure originally sponsored by Senator Buddy Shaw and now backed by Governor Bobby Jindal....
SB 87 would reduce annual income tax revenue by several hundred million dollars, but would only cut taxes for the just over one-third of Louisianans who currently pay at the 6 percent rate. One commonsense alternative to SB 87 would instead expand the 2 percent tax bracket, which would benefit many more middle-income Louisianans, and would increase the value of the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) established last year.
Such an alternative would be far less expensive – reducing tax revenue by $134 million per year – but would be far broader in scope – shrinking the taxes paid by more than threequarters of Louisianans.
Of note, SB 87 would be heavily skewed towards the most affluent Louisianans, while the alternative described here would deliver the bulk of its tax cut to working families and individuals – who now pay a much larger share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the wealthy do. If SB 87 were enacted into law, the wealthiest 5 percent of Louisiana taxpayers – who are expected to have incomes over $138,000 in 2008 – would receive 27 percent of the total tax cut, while taxpayers with incomes below $43,000 would receive just 6 percent of the tax cut.
In contrast, more than half the benefits of the alternative described here would accrue to taxpayers with incomes below $43,000, with the richest 5 percent of taxpayers garnering just 6 percent.
"Heavily skewed towards the most affluent" Well, it's clear that Jindal offers a huge contrast from Bush in that regard. Just like a photocopy. When Republicans promise change their plan works like a photocopier. It produces a completely different piece of paper with the exact same thing printed on it. Only the paper has changed.
Here's another fact about Louisiana. Their state taxes are regressive - lower income people pay higher rates than higher income people. In Louisiana, those in the top 20 percent pay a tax rate of 7.9% while those in the bottom 20 percent pay a tax rate of 12.1%. Source:
http://www.cbpp.org/5-9-08sfp.htm Jindal's tax cuts make them more regressive. Republicans continue to believe that tax cuts for the wealthy and a more regressive tax system will help the whole country.
Trust us, they say, these beans really are magic this time.
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