re: Why Louisiana stays poor

One simple ratio known as the “tax burden” helps cut through the confusion. Not to be confused with tax rates, which vary widely based on an individual’s particular circumstances, tax burden measures the exact proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes. And it isn’t uniform across the U.S., either.

To determine which states’ residents bear the biggest tax burdens,analysts compared the 50 states across the three tax types that make up state tax burden — property taxes, individual income taxes, and sales and excise taxes — as a percentage of total personal income in the state.

New York is ranked #1 as expected
Louisiana is ranked #29
Texas is ranked #34

In 2012 Louisiana was ranked #45, this goes to show you how much residents have been taxed in 5 years to make up for the budget cuts.