With concern growing over the Louisiana’s projected $1.4 billion budget shortfall for the coming year and the catastrophic cuts that could result for higher education, many lawmakers are eyeing some of the tax breaks the state awards annually to businesses as economic development incentives.
But Louisiana Association of Business and Industry President Stephen Waguespack says his organization will challenge efforts to roll back tax incentives and will focus instead on trying to reform the way that state spends its dollars. Waguespack notes the state’s economy is thriving and projected to grow stronger, with activity related to the anticipated industrial construction boom.
“We shouldn’t be so fast to overlook a growing private sector,” Waguespack says. “A dollar in the private sector is still a dollar in Louisiana, just because it’s not in state government. You want money in the private sector. You don’t want a lot of money sitting around in the state treasury that they can spend.”
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