BATON ROUGE (AP) — The Lafayette lawmaker sponsoring Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax rewrite proposals says no one should consider the tax package dead on arrival, as some critics have claimed.

Rep. Joel Robideaux, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says opposition from a powerful business lobbying group and hundreds of religious leaders have created hurdles to legislative approval.

But Robideaux said Monday that the governor’s push for an idea carries hefty weight in the Legislature.

Jindal wants to eliminate state income taxes. To keep the tax rewrite “revenue neutral,” the Republican governor wants to raise sales taxes, charge sales taxes on previously untaxed services and get rid of dozens of tax breaks.

Lawmakers will consider the idea in the two-month legislative session that starts next week.

(Associated Press)

Tim Mueller