re: Louisiana has one of the most valuable ports in the world and a huge O&G presence.

frick yes culture!! Tasty food and tourism!! fricking Mardi Gras!!!

So add up the ports of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, South Louisiana, and Plaquemines and you will have the Lower Mississippi River port system as a whole.

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when you let the minorities become the majority ....

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Why are we a poor state and not Qatar?

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Democrats from the Longs to John Edwards

Petrochemical companies own most of the sugar cane fields along the Mississippi River. They bought that up back in the 1960's. They lease them out to farmers. Mostly Down and Union Carbide did that, now most owned by Dow.

Corruption was almost gone at state level, now due $1 million campaign donations per law firm, it's back at the highest level. Straight from a former general legal counsel of a petrochemical company, local officials have hands out constantly whining and begging much more a pain in the arse than anything else. Ascension and Plaquemine parishes are pretty bad about that.

Exxon Baton Rouge would have to sell to someone else or dig to China if they ever closed the place. That's why it isn't going to shutdown.

What Louisiana lacks that especially Houston doesn't is downstream industry for refining/petrochemicals. The amount of small manufacturers there is a wet dream for the entire state of Louisiana. While their property taxes are a helluva lot higher it goes to LOCAL neighborhood school districts. LaPorte and Deer Park school districts have money out the wazoo. Industry has an educated labor pool almost within walking distance. It's a win/win for them. True no income tax but they now have a franchise tax which is actually a corporate income tax on GROSS SALES, not net profit.

What are you going to do? The only place for business to grow like Houston for New Orleans is the North Shore and they don't want any manufacturing there. They want to be a bunch of bedroom communities. Hell they didn't want anyone to develop that Causeway construction property in Mandeville into a very nice marina. The NIMBY is strong there.

Also, our oil and gas riches are no longer here. There would have been a lot of hydraulic fracturing for oil if it were. Dumbasses on the North Shore don't even know that oil and gas wells were drilled long ago in St, Tammany a few are still producing.

As for past riches, ask Leander Perez, HUey and EWE. We would have paved the highways with gold in those days. EWE decide to payola the whiners mostly in NOLA.

What happened the gambling tax money in NOLA? In Lake Chuck, nary a penny went to general fund but instead to infrastructure replacement (streets repaved, brand new water and sewer piping, and the rest went into a rainy day fund.

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Louisiana's individual and corporate taxes are NOT too low.

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Forbes ranked states by tax burden a few years ago (for individuals) and Louisiana was the 6th best right behind Texas at #5. While I agree that our taxes aren’t ‘too low’, they aren’t high either. I know you didn’t claim that, I’m just pointing it out bc I hear people all the time bitch about Louisiana’s taxes but they aren’t bad if we are being honest.

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We stay poor because we cannot/will not educate our children

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Couldn’t agree more.

I'd lay 100 to 1 odds that not a single person in the state knows specifically the actual destination of each tax dollar or even large chunks to tax dollars

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Forbes ranked states by tax burden a few years ago (for individuals) and Louisiana was the 6th best right behind Texas at #5.

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in reality, Louisiana has the 24th highest tax burden, Texas is 33rd. Less than a percentage point separates the 2, but they are both middle of the pack, not top 10

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We have the highest sales tax of any state.

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4th highest, we can't even be the best at that