Local Citizens Unhappy with Local Officials about Industrial Tax Exemption

Local officials with the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Calcasieu Parish School Board have recently approved tax exemptions for the $15.2 billion Driftwood LNG project. The exemptions are part of ITEP, which is an industrial tax exemption program that gives tax and other exemptions to multi-billion dollar companies in hopes that they will do business in Louisiana.

The Driftwood LNG tax exemption would make them exempt from paying $2 billion+ worth of industrial property taxes over the next 10 years.

It has been reported that the deal may have violated Louisiana’s public meetings law. In addition to that, some residents have said that a recent public meeting was announced and held under questionable circumstances. The meeting time was announced only 24 hours prior to the meeting, and it was held at a time when most residents would not be able to attend.

As you can imagine, many local citizens are not happy with the exemptions or the way local officials are handling their questions and objections.

The video below is one citizen’s response to Calcasieu Parish officials attempting to defend their decisions on tax incentives and exemptions for industrial projects.

Video by Heather Ames – Originally posted in the Facebook group Calcasieu Citizens’ Taxing Alliance.

The article mentioned at the beginning of the video: American Press – Alliance for Positive Growth
Officials defend tax incentives for industrial projects