[StBernard] Fairer, Flatter and Simpler

[Westley Annis]

Dear Friends -

This week we announced that our top priority for the next legislative
session is to reform Louisiana's tax system. Our goal is simple - make
Louisiana's tax code fairer, flatter and lower for Louisiana families and
businesses.

Ultimately, this will make Louisiana even more attractive for new business
investment as we compete with the rest of the country and the world for
economic development projects.

Since we entered office, we have worked to make Louisiana more competitive
with the rest of the country and world by revamping our workforce
development system, reforming our ethics laws, eliminating onerous business
taxes and reforming our education system.

A comprehensive review of our tax code is long overdue, and it's the logical
next step in our work to make Louisiana a better place to do businesses so
that our state can be the best place to raise a family and find a job.

We will be doing a top to bottom review of the tax code to see what's
working and what isn't for Louisiana taxpayers. I want to be very clear
however. Our goal is to make Louisiana's tax code fairer, flatter and
simpler. This is not simply an exercise to take the easy way out and raise
taxes. I will strongly oppose any attempts to raise taxes on families and
businesses.

The bottom line is that reforming our tax system so that it's fairer,
flatter and simpler will increase Louisiana's competitiveness and help
foster an environment where businesses want to invest and create jobs for
our people. 

Sincerely,

Governor Bobby Jindal