Plans to use Tax Incremental Financing to build a Hampton Inn & Suites breezed through the Metro Council last week, with no one raising any objections to using tax revenue to build the downtown hotel. This is the fourth time a TIF has been used to build a hotel in Baton Rouge. Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball says its interesting that fiscal conservatives and local Tea Party members raised a ruckus about the prospect of using sales and property taxes to pay for the downtown Alive project, but have remained silent on this issue. “One of the loudest arguments made by opponents of Alive was that government should not involve itself in business that belongs exclusively with the private sector,” Ball says. “OK, but how do they then remain silent in suburbia as government explicitly helps these four hotels gain a financial advantage over the other hotels and motels in the parish?” Read the full column here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.
Editor: Silence around TIFs
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