Latest news with #QualityJobsProgram
American Press
16-07-2025
- Business
- American Press
Louisiana launches High Impact Jobs Program focused on energy, advanced manufacturing
(Special to the American Press) A new state program designed to boost high-paying employment in Louisiana officially launched this month, offering grants to companies in sectors deemed critical to the state's economy — including energy and advanced manufacturing — while excluding industries like gaming, retail, and solar farms. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois told The Center Square that the program has received four applicants so far. The High Impact Jobs Program, administered by Louisiana Economic Development, was created to provide performance-based grants to businesses that create full-time, benefits-eligible jobs paying above-average wages. To qualify, companies must meet wage thresholds based on regional or parish averages and operate in eligible industries. Bourgeois said the program emerged from a confluence of factors her department identified after she took office earlier this year. According to Bourgeois, there were two or three issues that 'seemed disparate' at first — the Industrial Tax Exemption Program changes under Governor Edwards, a 20-year-old Quality Jobs Program that had never been fully reimagined, and the lack of a modern strategic plan at the department. 'Where we've landed with all this is that they're not independent,' Bourgeois said, suggesting that HIP is meant to address all three issues. To participate in the new program, businesses must be located in Louisiana and approved by the LED secretary. Eligible projects must either create jobs in distressed areas with wages at least 110% of the lesser of the parish or regional average wage, create jobs in other areas with wages at least 125% of the parish average wage, or retain highly skilled workers with advanced degrees, if approved in advance by LED. Grants are reimbursable and based on the annualized wages of qualifying new jobs, capped at $2,000 per job, per year. The reimbursement rate depends on the wage level: 8% for jobs in distressed areas that meet the lower wage threshold, 18% for jobs that meet 125% to 150% of the parish average wage, and 22% for jobs that exceed 150% of the parish average wage. A separate grant is available to retain highly skilled workers with advanced degrees, subject to LED approval. Bourgeois emphasized that the new program is fiscally capped at $125 million annually, unlike the Quality Jobs Program, which was open-ended and dictated entirely by statute. 'That was a commitment we made to the Legislature — that our new proposal would be fiscally responsible while still allowing us to compete and win,' Bourgeois said. According to LED rules and program documents, energy and process industries — including liquefied natural gas services, nuclear components, and carbon ecosystem management — are explicitly listed among eligible sectors. Other targeted industries include manufacturing, logistics, aerospace and defense, biotechnology and medical device production, agribusiness, data centers and general management operations, and technology fields such as robotics, cybersecurity, and industrial software. LED may also approve projects aligned with its strategic plan, which is updated periodically. Bourgeois said that updating the department's strategic plan helped shape the direction of the program. 'We identified five North Stars for the department…one of those that's really fundamentally important is wage growth,' Bourgeois said. 'If Louisiana citizens aren't seeing rising wages to support their families, then are we really effective?' Some industries are expressly barred from participating. These include gaming, retail, solar farms, professional sports teams, local utilities such as water and sewer systems, solid waste disposal, legal and accounting services, call centers, and entertainment companies such as film, music, and live performance production. In the Quality Jobs program's final week, major companies including Shell, Exxon, Air Products, Dow, Meta, Hyundai, and Woodland filed applications before that program's sunset. Each of those companies 'has used the incentive in the past and built project plans around that economic formula,' Bourgeois said.
American Press
14-05-2025
- Business
- American Press
Jim Beam column:Tax breaks hard to eliminate
Louisiana legislators are addicted to handing out tax exemptions and they are trying to do it again.(metrocreativegraphics). Louisiana legislators love to give tax exemptions. The state gave away $7.5 billion of those exemptions in 2023, according to the latest figures available. The Advocate sized the situation up well when it said the state gave away $1 in exemptions for every $2 it collected in fiscal year 2023. While giving away $7.5 billion, the state collected $12.5 billion in taxes. The Legislature had some success in curbing those exemptions when it held a tax reform special last November, but that has been rare in recent years. The newspaper said it repealed the Quality Jobs Program and Enterprise Zone exemptions. Legislators reduced the cap on tax credits it gives for movie and TV productions from $180 million to $125 million per year and for investments in historic properties from $125 million to $85 million. In 2023, the state raised $4.5 billion in sales taxes, but it gave away $3.3 billion in exemptions. It sounds almost unbelievable, but the state had 218 state sales tax exemptions totaling $1.7 billion. The state had 95 individual income tax exemptions totaling $1.6 billion. It had 60 corporate income tax exemptions totaling $1.8 billion. Susan Bourgeois, secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, in an interview told The Advocate that investors care most about lower tax rates. A tax incentive, she added, 'closes deals, it doesn't get us deals.' While that is true, legislators still love to sponsor tax exemptions. During the current fiscal session, legislators have proposed over 70 new tax breaks. The newspaper said they insist new tax breaks or expansion of existing ones creates jobs and investment. State Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur, doesn't buy that argument. 'Tax credits are the reason we're in the shape we're in financially,' Farnum said. He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee that handles exemptions and Farnum in an interview said, 'We give away so much money. We have a host of brand new requests every year.' Thanks to the late-Rep. Vic Stelly, an independent from Moss Bluff, there are some tax breaks that benefit all citizens. A sales tax exemption for food purchased for home consumption totaled $584.5 million in 2023. An exemption for residential utilities totaled $251.3 million. And an exemption for prescription medications totaled $405.8 million. The $1.24 billion exempted for those three when they were approved in 2002 were paid for with higher state income taxes. Unfortunately, the Legislature reduced the income taxes in 2008 and the state experienced almost eight years of severe budget crunches. The late-Gov. Mike Foster called the Stelly Plan one of the most beneficial tax reform plans passed in many years. The three special exemptions are in the state constitution and the state's voters are unlikely to ever remove them from that special protection. The income tax that was raised in 2002 wasn't protected. The Advocate said the Tax Exemption Budget from the Louisiana Department of Revenue shows that legislators over the years have legalized a total of 564 tax breaks in the form of exemptions, deductions and exclusions from sales, income, corporate franchise and user fee taxes. The newspaper said Gov. Jeff Landry and legislators at last year's third special session had some luck ending or reducing tax exemptions. They want to continue to wipe out exemptions, but it's never easy. Former state Sen. JP Morrell, who is now president of the New Orleans City Council, in an interview during last year's tax reform session, said, 'We were unable (in 2017) to get traction. Every (tax break) constituency showed up, and they got to one or two legislators' to protect their favored tax breaks. Former state Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, tried to end some sales tax exemptions as chair of a special committee to do it, but legislators refused to support the effort. Judging from tax exemptions that were ended or reduced during last November's special session, legislators may finally be ready to end some of the costly tax breaks. However, we won't get a final answer until we see what happens to the 70 tax break bills that were filed for the current legislative session. Louisiana has the highest combined state and local sales tax in the country, so it's definitely time to end a large chunk of those existing 218 sales tax exemptions and lower sales taxes. Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or Reply Forward Add reaction
