While government leaders on the federal and state levels see their problems as being caused by too much spending, not a lack of revenue, East Baton Rouge leaders see problems as being caused by a lack of revenue, not spending. Mayor Kip Holden is once again pushing a $748 million bond issue, while District Attorney Hillar Moore wants a $10 million tax to staff his office and Metro Council members are discussing a tax option to combat crime. Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball says this flurry of tax initiatives comes at the most inopportune of times. “Among the state’s major cities, Baton Rouge is posting the most alarming indicators and threatens to join the very national economic slowdown we’ve so boastfully proclaimed to have avoided,” he says. Ball says the tax proposals are coming because for too long local leaders were content to put off long-term investments. Read the full column here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.
Today’s poll: Does East Baton Rouge Parish have a spending problem or a revenue problem?
