Bobby Jindal has recently been in the national news for his opposition to the stimulus plan and his threat to reject large portions of the stimulus plan. But he acknowledges that there is a problem with the economy and that government can do something–Back Off. A couple of days ago, Jindal penned an editorial in the Monroe News Star entitled “Growing government won’t help”. Jindal takes to task the idea that raising taxes or increasing spending would revitalize the economy, and instead suggests that government ought to get out of the way by lowering taxes and cutting back on spending.

Increasing taxes on Louisiana businesses would have the exact opposite effect, and I have said I will not increase taxes on our people to help meet our budget challenges. Raising taxes on our businesses, in particular, would effectively punish employers who create the very jobs we want to protect and multiply for our people. In order to protect our Louisiana businesses from a burdensome tax increase, I recently announced that we will decline a portion of the federal stimulus bill that would require a permanent change in state law to expand unemployment insurance coverage and ultimately force our businesses to foot the bill.

Governor Jindal is, of course, right. Raising taxes will simply discourage innovation and growth. Furthermore, for every dollar we give to government, they will take it and reinvest it somewhere else, right? Only after removing some of the money for bureaucratic costs. In effect, we are removing one dollar from the economy in order to invest 90 cents of it somewhere else, while lining the pockets of bureaucrats.