A different path: With his tax plans repeatedly blocked by House Republicans, Gov. John Bel Edwards is broadening his outreach efforts to tackle the state’s budget gap. As The Associated Press reports, Edwards is trying to build grassroots pressure for permanently stabilizing Louisiana’s budget and closing the latest looming, $1 billion-plus shortfall. The Democratic governor met with business leaders this week to brainstorm budget-balancing ideas. His chief financial adviser, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, is on the traveling speech circuit, making the case for revenue rather than cuts to close the gap. The reworked strategy appears aimed at getting community leaders involved in influencing GOP lawmakers who have stymied Edwards’ previous attempts to rewrite Louisiana tax laws.
Going live: Positioning itself as a potential threat to Twitter, YouTube, Netflix and other streaming services, Facebook is launching a new section dedicated to live and recorded video. The Associated Press reports, Facebook’s Watch section builds on the social network’s capabilities to present a random concoction of videos that users find as they stroll down their newsfeed. The idea is to let people find videos and series they like, keep up with them as new episodes air, and interact with other fans in the process. The new Watch section is available to some U.S. users today, and more people will get it over time.
At second glance: Is the practice of rival cities using public monies and corporate tax breaks to lure manufacturers a bad idea? In his latest column, Governing Publisher Mark Funkhouser, referencing a new book by law professor Richard Schragger, calls economic development incentives a bad idea that “contributed to a municipal bond default crisis when promised returns did not materialize.” Funkhouser also cites a recent study that found average economic incentives tripled between 1990 and 2015, from 9% of business taxes to 30%. The incentives were largely ineffective and governments would have experienced the same results without the incentives 94% of the time. Read more.
