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Louisiana's $1 Billion Giveaway
Giveaways cost the U.S. taxpayers $50 billion a year
Giveaways cost the U.S. taxpayers $50 billion a year
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<h2>
Louisiana's $1 Billion Giveaway</h2>
<h2>
Giveaways cost the U.S. taxpayers $50 billion a year</h2>
<p>by Fred Kammer, S.J. </p>
<p>The New Orleans Advocate, in an eight-part report<a href="http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/2014/11/26/giving-away-louisiana/">[1]</a>, has highlighted the burgeoning practice of creating tax-breaks (“tax incentives,” “tax loopholes,” “tax expenditures”) that now cost Louisiana $1.08 billion dollars a year. Legislatures create these benefits purportedly to induce businesses to locate in a state or expand there. Two examples from The Advocate illustrate these incentives:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Every time the Robertson clan films another episode of “Duck Dynasty,” Louisiana is on the hook for nearly $330,000, at last count.</li>
<li>
During the past three years, state taxpayers agreed to fork over nearly $700,000 to Wal-Mart to build new stores in two affluent suburbs.<a href="http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/2014/11/26/giving-away-louisiana/">[2]</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The report focuses on six programs which together have grown by an average of 17% a year over the past decade and their 2013 cost: film industry incentives whereby the state pays 30% of production costs of films made here ($251 million); refunds of property taxes businesses pay on inventory ($427 million); solar power tax credits to businesses and individuals ($61 million); tax exemptions for fracking wells ($240 million); the Enterprise Zone program ($70 million); and various property and sales tax benefits to lure “megaprojects” here (costing hundreds of millions).</p>
<p>In 2013 alone, these six programs totaled over $1 billion dollars in a state struggling to meet its budget and doing so by repeated cuts primarily in health care and education. Higher education spending has dropped from $1.13 billion in FY2009 to $535 million in FY2015. The difference often is made up in increased tuition for families.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/ji9bg/45929d930bcd44c1fc67934daf1ce068">MORE>></a></p>
Louisiana's $1 Billion Giveaway</h2>
<h2>
Giveaways cost the U.S. taxpayers $50 billion a year</h2>
<p>by Fred Kammer, S.J. </p>
<p>The New Orleans Advocate, in an eight-part report<a href="http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/2014/11/26/giving-away-louisiana/">[1]</a>, has highlighted the burgeoning practice of creating tax-breaks (“tax incentives,” “tax loopholes,” “tax expenditures”) that now cost Louisiana $1.08 billion dollars a year. Legislatures create these benefits purportedly to induce businesses to locate in a state or expand there. Two examples from The Advocate illustrate these incentives:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Every time the Robertson clan films another episode of “Duck Dynasty,” Louisiana is on the hook for nearly $330,000, at last count.</li>
<li>
During the past three years, state taxpayers agreed to fork over nearly $700,000 to Wal-Mart to build new stores in two affluent suburbs.<a href="http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/2014/11/26/giving-away-louisiana/">[2]</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The report focuses on six programs which together have grown by an average of 17% a year over the past decade and their 2013 cost: film industry incentives whereby the state pays 30% of production costs of films made here ($251 million); refunds of property taxes businesses pay on inventory ($427 million); solar power tax credits to businesses and individuals ($61 million); tax exemptions for fracking wells ($240 million); the Enterprise Zone program ($70 million); and various property and sales tax benefits to lure “megaprojects” here (costing hundreds of millions).</p>
<p>In 2013 alone, these six programs totaled over $1 billion dollars in a state struggling to meet its budget and doing so by repeated cuts primarily in health care and education. Higher education spending has dropped from $1.13 billion in FY2009 to $535 million in FY2015. The difference often is made up in increased tuition for families.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/ji9bg/45929d930bcd44c1fc67934daf1ce068">MORE>></a></p>