West Baton Rouge Parish is among the top 20 cities or counties in the country when it comes to the per capita losing of money from tax breaks, according to an analysis by Governing.
Governments recently began disclosing the information on tax incentives as a result of an accounting rule implemented by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
At a loss of $140 per capita, West Baton Rouge ranks 19th nationally in reported losses. In all, the parish, through tax breaks, gave up $3.5 million in annual direct and passive revenue.
St. John the Baptist Parish was second on the list with a per capita loss of $407 and a total direct and passive revenue loss of $17.9 million.
Governing analyzed data compiled by corporate watchdog group Good Jobs First from the disclosed annual financial reports. Revenues lost to property tax abatements, economic development incentives and other programs were tallied for each jurisdiction. Total losses on a per capita basis were then compared to different socioeconomic measures for a sample of 446 cities and counties with complete data as of earlier this year.
Last year, East Baton Rouge Parish lost $13,410,450 to tax breaks, and the state as a whole lost $457,778,341.
The disclosure data, from a limited sample of jurisdictions, suggest that those areas most heavily reliant on tax incentives generally have higher levels of income inequality. Read the full story here.
