By Scott Stetson Sr.

Check it out Louisiana, check it out Natchitoches, if your elected officials aren’t talking about this they aren’t doing their jobs. If they aren’t looking at the head of the snake giving away revenue which we need for infrastructure they are charlatans and we need them gone.

At 9:30am tomorrow, Louisiana’s Board of Commerce and Industry will meet to consider corporate tax exemption requests that will cost local school districts and other local governmental bodies $178 million in lost revenue in 2020-2021 and $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years.

What does Natchitoches lose? $1.6 million. There is so much lost revenue just this year that there should be no discussion of cutting any programs and no reason major infrastructure improvements can’t be made starting this year. See for yourself:

The good news? You have an opportunity to make a stand. This board has given away revenue and isn’t accountable to the state’s citizens by any measure. If you care about our state, about our infrastructure, make a stand. The idea that companies would leave without these breaks is outlandish. They won’t come with our current infrastructure. The ports in our state bring in more money than most countries, our state is a massive asset and it is being plundered and given away. Did you know Texas residents cost per capita for businesses to come in is $87? Ours is over $2700 per capita, and we are significantly poorer.

We can all rant on social media, here is your chance to truly be heard. Please don’t miss it, and remember this at polling time. It matters, if you don’t have representation that is looking for opportunities to right this ship without burdening you more, then please, let’s start looking. One hour before the meeting, Together Louisiana will be holding a Citizens Briefing at 8:30am to provide context and analysis of the exemptions being considered.

To join that Citizens Briefing, register HERE

Citizens can join the meeting at 9:30am using Louisiana Economic Development’s Zoom link: JOIN ZOOM HERE

Respectfully,

Scott Stetson Sr.