Governor Bobby Jindal ditched his plan to eliminate the state’s corporate and income taxes while raising the sales tax.

Jindal still likes his plan and was hoping lawmakers would pass laws to help phase out Louisiana’s income tax.

“Send me that bill to make Louisiana the best state in the country to create jobs and raise a family…we don’t just want to compete—we want to win the contest,” Jindal said to a joint session of the legislature on April 8.

However, that won’t happen anytime soon since on April 15 the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee indefinitely deferred all tax reform bills for the session.

Removing income tax without a way to replace the revenue would have left the state with about $23.7 billion less in revenue over the next 10 years, according to the committee.

Jindal said he believed the Legislature missed an opportunity.

Some students at ULM agree with Jindal and liked his plan.

“Some people don’t have to pay into income tax and they still get tax refunds and other people still have to pay it,” said Sean Allen, a computer information systems sophomore .

“With sales tax, everyone pays their fair share, and that is really why I support it. I don’t like the way the sales tax will be increased, but if everyone’s paying into and if there is no loopholes, no one could get out of it very easily, I still support it,” Allen said.

ULM political science professor Joshua Stockley thinks Jindal made the right choice in pulling back.

“Louisiana lacks the number of skilled workers required to boost a state economy and, in turn, state revenues.  This is the product of years of a lack of investment in public and higher education,” Stockley said.

“Companies move where workers are available, where families are comfortable living  and where taxes are fair. Our taxes are fair, but we lack the workers and, in turn, we lack a comfort level for future families because of inadequate educational structures,” Stockley said.

Hailey Morris, a senior political science, said the plan had its advantages and disadvantages but the flaw in it was it would have made essentials more expensive.

Stockley said the state would not have a billion dollar deficit if Jindal eliminated some of the state’s 468 tax exemptions that depleted $5 billion in potential revenue from state coffers in 2012.