Louisiana governor and Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal released a tax reform plan that would require all Americans to pay taxes.
“My tax plan lowers the tax bracket for every American, and it dramatically simplifies the tax code for every American,” Jindal said in introducing his plan. “To grow the American economy we must reduce our tax burden and make taxes simpler. My plan has only three rates—2 percent, 10 percent, and 25 percent. Most Americans will be in the 10 percent bracket.”
Jindal explained his reasoning for expanding the tax base. “Most Republican plans brag about the idea that they will allow about half of all Americans to pay zero federal taxes,” he wrote on his
Jindal said everybody should have some “skin in the game.”
“We have come to the point in this country where far too many Americans believe that money grows on trees in Washington,” he said. “They do not seem to get the fact that our government has no money other than what it takes from our citizens. President Obama has nearly doubled our national debt. We simply must require that every American has some skin in this game. If we have generations of Americans who never pay any taxes, it will be very easy for them to turn a blind eye to absurd government spending and to continue to allow our government to bankrupt our nation. There is great strength in shared sacrifice.”
He stressed the importance of having a 2 percent tax bracket at the bottom. “My plan only asks 2 percent from the bottom bracket but that may be the most important 2 percent in the whole plan,” he said. “It reestablishes the idea that in America everyone is expected to help row the boat. Now some people may have a bigger oar and some smaller but you keep your oar in the water along with everyone else.”
