re: Is this corporatism in Louisiana?

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Why are we allowing a state board to unilaterally absolve companies from their property tax obligations to the localities?

And is absolving $16.9 billion in taxes in the name of economic development really delivering the development promised?

Side issue would be why does the state pay for services traditionally paid for by localities in other states?

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Great questions

First:

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Side issue would be why does the state pay for services traditionally paid for by localities in other states?

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because of limits placed on the ability of locals to raise money like the Homestead exemption and...

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Why are we allowing a state board to unilaterally absolve companies from their property tax obligations to the localities?

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The Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) is manufacturing's response to the Homestead Exemption (HE). Imagine a locality that wants to raise $100 million (for roads, schools, whatever). However most citizens pay little to no property tax because the HE. So then rates have to be even higher and fall mostly on business. That became a real disincentive to attracting core economic drivers like manufacturing. So they got ITEP. For decades the HE "cost" more than the ITEP. In recent years, ITEP has finally surpassed HE.

So long story short, when HE becomes a local option, ITEP can be a local option. In other words, eliminate them both and give locals the ability to exempt or rebate what they want to. And then CUT all the support the state gives the locals. Well maybe not all of it, but a lot of it.

Another option is to do something like Texas where you have a unified local board that can approve projects. So a one stop shop at the local level instead of dealing with the potentially dozen local taxing bodies that might be affected.

The worst solution is to require the state AND multiple local jurisdiction to approve. That is what we have now and it is chaos.

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And is absolving $16.9 billion in taxes in the name of economic development really delivering the development promised?

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Well that is the $16.9 billion question isn't it! My view, probably. Most states have something like the ITEP. Ours is a little more generous, but then it really just compensates for a lot of anti-business structures (like the HE and the fact business is assessed taxes on 15% of their property's market value compared to 10% for individuals). So without it, we would not be very competitive at all. Would some business still come here? Sure. But fewer and the existing plants would be hard pressed to do any expansions.

Could we get away with an something like an 80% exemption? Probably. But businesses (the large companies) have accountants that run the numbers. To the extent you cost them more the less likely they will move (or expand) here.

So while the ITEP could be watered down, it would be best coupled with a reduction in some really bad business taxes. Like the franchise tax or sales tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment.

Comrade, I get a kick out of your lawyer talk. Attorneys are parasites in LA, everyone knows that.

Really they should be sent to the work camps in short order, but you and I both know that won't happen. We need to reform though.

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can BR be more like a Nashville or Austin?

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Infrastructure would have to be completely worked on

Crime isn't as bad as in NOLA, schools are shite but that's true of most southern cities.

Jindal nabbed a few companies with tax credits including Aberlmarle(sp?) but they ended up leaving recently. This state is just toxic to big business/white collar ops.

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On the plus side, we are in the midst of a massive expansion in the chemical industry. I'm just wondering if that is enough.

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We got IBM in Baton Rouge.

New Orleans is having a resurgence at the white collar level.

We are MILES ahead of where we where in the 80s in terms of diversification. Just need to keep moving the ball.

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From 2008 to 2010, metro New Orleans lost only 1 percent of jobs compared to 5 percent lost nationwide. By 2014, metro New Orleans had recouped these losses and reached 5 percent above its 2008 level, while the nation reached only 1 percent above its 2008 level. Jobs in knowledge-based clusters have grown substantially since 2010 including in construction products & services (an essential part of the water management cluster), video production, and electric power generation, which have grown 14 percent, 90 percent, and 22 percent respectively. Job centers have shifted across the region. Parishes upriver and on the north shore are now home to 24 percent of all the metro’s jobs. By 2014, passenger enplanements in Louis Armstrong International airport surpassed 2008 levels by 22 percent—while national air traffic had recovered to only 5 percent above pre-recession numbers. In fact, by 2014, New Orleans passenger enplanements had surpassed their 2004 pre-Katrina high mark—indicating that the New Orleans airport is providing expanded connectivity for Southeast Louisiana visitors, residents, and businesses. The metro New Orleans entrepreneurship rate—at 471 startups per 100,000 adults during the three year period from 2011-13—is 64 percent higher than the national average, and 40 percent higher than other fast-growing Southern metros. Venture capital funding, which is critical to innovation and economic cluster development, has doubled in metro New Orleans from $16 per capita in 2010 to $32 per capita in 2014. But this is only a fraction of the venture capital going to startups in competitive metro Austin, where funding has consistently been over $100 per capita since 2006. Metro New Orleans lags the nation in producing and attracting workers with a bachelor’s degree. By 2013, only 27 percent of adults in the metro had at least a 4-year degree compared to 30 percent nationwide, and the gap between metro New Orleans and the nation has been widening since 1990.

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Yeah, wall of text.

Here is the link to the Data Center. Click the economic growth tab:

New Orleans Index