According to a 2013-2014 Kaiser Family Foundation report, Louisiana ranks third among 13 states—small and large, liberal and conservative—for total state expenditures per capita, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column.
Louisiana, he notes, spent $5,867 per capita—more than California ($5,551), Texas ($4,086) Florida ($3,420). The numbers include general funds, federal funds and other state funds and bonds.
“Well, you might argue, California, Texas and Florida have more people. So, Louisiana should have fewer to care for, right?” McCollister asks. “Or could it be that our government is still too big, with too many employees and too many services offered that should be handled—and paid for—by local governments? Or do these states just have more businesses and citizens pulling the wagon and fewer riding in it who expect the state to pay the tab?”
He notes that Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the nation for having a native-born population and ponders whether a culture of handouts is deeply ingrained in Louisiana.
“You know what I’m talking about. Throw me somethin’ mista,” McCollister writes. “A chicken in every pot. A charity hospital system—the last state in the nation to operate a statewide system (versus local care). It runs your costs up—and folks always want more with someone else paying for it.”
McCollister questions whether the state could afford priorities such as TOPS, health care and roads if state government ran lean and efficient. He also challenges statements made by state Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, in a recent letter to the editor that there’s nothing left for state lawmakers to cut than “meat and bones.”
“This is the same line folks like James and other liberal Democrats have been saying for the last eight years, and the cuts kept coming—without new taxes—and somehow government kept functioning. Amazing,” McCollister says.
The Business Report publisher argues that big businesses tend to be an easy target for taxes, but he writes that the economic impact of those sizeable companies is significant and extends beyond the obvious numbers. For example, a report prepared by economist Loren Scott attributes one of every eight jobs in the area to ExxonMobil. The company also paid $1 billion in state and local taxes over the past decade. In 2015 alone, ExxonMobil paid nearly $94 million to East Baton Rouge Parish and more than $153 million in Louisiana. But that doesn’t include the company’s commitment in terms of philanthropy to the community.
Also in his column, McCollister writes that Mayor Kip Holden and the Metro Council are moving Baton Rouge in the right direction to become a digital city by establishing Open Data BR, the Red Stick 311 web platform and app, and the creation of a Transportation, Technology and Innovation District to attract smart car companies.
On June 22, Mayor Pro Tem Chandler Loupe will ask the council to take another step and approve a study for a parishwide plan to provide for a “dig once” policy and to explore the implementation of high-speed fiber internet to the entire parish.
“In a global economy, some have described high-speed fiber as ‘electricity for the future,’” McCollister writes. “A digital city would be one where citizens and businesses can compete because all have access to ‘power’—and no one is left sitting in the dark.”
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