Bobby Jindal unveils national tax plan

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, trying to revive his ailing Republican presidential bid, will unveil a tax plan on Wednesday whose goal is to make all citizens pay at least a few federal income taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. His plan “would also eliminate most deductions, including those that allow millions of Americans to pay nothing in federal income taxes”.

Jindal’s plan seeks to compress the current seven income tax brackets to three, with those in the lowest rung paying a 2 percent rate, the Journal reported. About 45 percent of Americans owe no income tax – although they still often pay payroll taxes to Social Security and Medicare and will also pay state and local sales taxes – and about half of those households simply don’t make enough money. Trump’s plan includes a zero percent tax rate for lower-income individuals, and Bush has made his proposal to take millions of people off the income tax rolls a selling point.

Jindal will announce his plan in Iowa, the Journal reported. ObamaCare tax increases would be eliminated as well. Both Bush and Trump want to move more people off the income tax rolls.

Jindal’s eggs are all in the Iowa basket, so he has to be competitive there.

He would scrap itemized deductions, except for a few of the biggest and politically sensitive, such as those for charitable contributions and mortgage interest, the newspaper said. Families could claim a nonrefundable credit for dependents as well.

“Jindal has invested a lot of time and effort here, more than any other candidate, and I think that is what’s being reflected in this poll”.

Read Jindal’s explanation of his tax plan here.

This would coincide, of course, with massive tax breaks, which Jindal estimates would “reduce the federal tax revenue by $9 trillion” over the next decade.

Outside analysts were skeptical of that claim.

In other words, we’re talking about a plan that would cut taxes on the wealthy, while increasing taxes on the poor.

“On Sunday, as I was driving in Des Moines, I actually saw my very first “Jindal ’16” bumper sticker on a auto parked outside of a Catholic church”, said Henderson.