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Industrial Tax Exemptions Steal From Poor to Give to Rich

By Adam Pedesclaux

Disgustingly, many large corporations in Louisiana pay less in taxes than many working people thanks to the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP), which robs residents of millions of dollars of tax revenue every year. Worse, we workers bear the costs of the damages to our environment that many of these companies are responsible for.

ITEP has existed since 1936, and yet since 1995 alone, companies have been exempted from over $20 billion in taxes—all while virtually every service for the welfare of people has been slashed.

Responding to public outrage over this policy, in 2016 Gov. Edwards announced changes to ITEP through an executive order that allowed local governing bodies (like school boards) to weigh in on the decision to allow multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies to skip out on taxes or not.

Previously, these decisions were made solely by the undemocratically appointed members of the Board of Commerce and Industry. Members of this board include politicians as well the heads of banking, real estate, and oil and gas corporations.

Edwards’ 2016 reform should have been step one in stopping parasitic companies from stealing much needed resources from the people of Louisiana. Instead the corporate bosses have convinced their puppet Edwards to take a step back.

On February 24, the Board of Commerce and Industry adopted changes proposed by Edwards that would allow companies to appeal the denial of a tax exemption by a body such as a school board. This will enable the company to essentially override the input of the public. This comes after teachers’ unions and the community in East Baton Rouge organized to get ExxonMobil to withdraw a request for their annual $6.5 million tax break last year. The bosses do not want to repeat this.

We cannot afford to allow petrochemical and oil and gas companies to make Louisiana their dumping ground while they suck billions in profits out of the state every year! Louisiana companies should pay their taxes and stop stealing money from the hard working people of this state because our roads need fixing, schools need to be in the power of the public (not corporate/business entities), and residents need to be made whole for the damages that these companies have done their communities. We can start with the residents of Gordon Plaza who are demanding a fully funded relocation from the industrial dump site on which their homes are built!

We must fight against these thieving criminals that bribe the Louisiana government to cheat us out of a decent living. The government ought to be run in the interest of the majority of the people—in other words, workers. We, the workers who make all industry run, have to fight for our due.

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Convention Center Rip-Off of Public funds for Private Profit Ramps Up

Where’s the Money for Our Kids?

A gang of thieves—aka private developers—are celebrating in their St. Charles mansions over their latest scheme to rip off public funds and tax money. The Convention Center, with the blessing of their bought-off state and city politicians, will build a huge hotel with $114 million of public funds and millions more in property tax exemptions (Bureau of Governmental Research).

The policy of allowing private hospitality capitalists to profit from public funds, tax exemptions and the wholesale theft of tax dollars is outrageous. Only 3% of the city budget goes to families and children while the rich steal $160 million. It shows that the government is solidly in the pockets of the rich.
Just one example is the Convention Center hiring of State Rep. Walter Leger III as vice president for Strategic Affairs. While in office, Leger sponsored legislation to enable public funding for the Convention Center hotel. A high paid position is his reward. If that ain’t corrupt, what is?

DECEPTIVE “FAIR SHARE” IS A NET LOSS FOR RESIDENTS
While Mayor Cantrell boasts of getting a “fair share deal” with a return of some city taxes to the Sewerage & Water Board, most residents don’t know that she agreed to legislation which included public funds for the hotel.

The total tourist tax dollars bypassing the city budget and going into private profiteers’ bank accounts was $180 million a year. Now “only” $160 million in taxes are being funneled to these private interests. To offset the money that the hospitality capitalists “lost,” legislation was passed that grants them even more money by way of new taxes. They also scored whopping tax exemptions for themselves. The net result of this “fair share” is that the people are getting less, the tax dollars are still stolen and the Convention Center is getting even more money.

Knowing this deal is unpopular, Mayor Cantrell is now criticizing what she agreed to. Convention Center President and General Manager Michael J. Sawaya said, “the mayor, when we agreed to the PILOT [payments in lieu of taxes] and agreed to give her $28 million, she agreed to support the hotel project,” he said. “She committed to it in front of the governor, in front of all of us.”

So, who is really running the city— the mayor or the mainly conservative, white, super-rich capitalists pulling the strings? We need to build up the independent power of the working class to fight this theft and have money for our kids.

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We Deserve 100% of Hotel Taxes, That’s a “Fair Share!”

By Ashlee Pintos

Mayor Cantrell’s office is claiming a victory for “Fair Share” New Orleans on the issue of what we call the Stolen Tax dollars. This ridiculous months-long negotiation between the Mayor’s office and the Convention Center has resulted in huge benefits for big business with a marginal benefit for the city. While $180 Million is stolen from New Orleans yearly, Cantrell has only asked for a fraction of the money (a one-time $48 Million with an additional $27 Million over the next 5 years). While the remaining yearly $153 Million is forgotten about for a perceived victory for the Cantrell administration, the convention center has been promised $300 Million for a new hotel and a portion of (more) Airbnb taxes among other concessions. How is this a fair share for the workers?

For over two years, the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance and the Peoples’ Assembly have been bringing this issue to light. It was not until this past year that Mayor Cantrell started to acknowledge the $180 Million in tourism taxes (such as the hotel tax) that are collected yearly. NONE of this money touches the city’s general budget: it currently goes to private, non-elected boards composed of big business/corporation owners and politicians who use these millions to further fatten their wallets. $180 Million is a quarter of the city’s general budget. We could use this yearly money to fund healthcare, childcare centers, paid vacation and sick leave, quality transportation, AND fix streets.

Tax money is supposed to be collected to use for goods and services for the benefit of the people. How can it be that politicians are nicely asking for the return of tax money from rich capitalists? This is robbery of the people on behalf of big business. Cantrell is complicit and as Mayor, she should be held accountable. Why does she want to give the people’s money to the same rich capitalists who oppress us workers?

Without hospitality workers who hold up the tourism industry, none of the profits or the tourism taxes would flow into the city. Meanwhile who pays high rents, high property taxes, and high sales taxes, all with a constant boot on our neck? Us workers! Who gets huge tax breaks and also makes away with millions in tourism tax money? The Convention Center! In New Orleans workers would need a quadruple raise to make a living wage as we currently make a base of $7.25 an hour and even less as tipped workers at $2.13.

If someone had been taking a quarter of your already-too-small paycheck, every single month, for years and you found out about it; would you kindly ask them to pay you back? Would you only ask for a fraction of it? Would you negotiate? Absolutely not!

We as workers have consistently maintained our demand that ALL of the money be given back to the people. All tax money should go into the general budget for city council discussion and public input. It is not up to the Mayor to unilaterally decide to give this money to the Sewage and Water Board to pay the extremely high salaries of their administrators. These funds will not be used to lower our rates. In fact, the Mayor has said she supports raising taxes for drainage. This scheme does not insure a properly functioning system. It’s because of a lack of public oversight of the board that millions were stolen from the budget before.

We need all of us workers to come together to continue the struggle, and we must be ready to fight for what is ours in the first place.

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Buses Should Be Free, Come Every 15 Minutes, 24/7

Return tourist taxes to RTA

There is one-third the number of buses now than before Katrina. The city and RTA have spent millions on streetcars for tourists but not to provide proper transportation for residents. The big hoopla about RTA plans reveals one major fact: once again, the city has prioritized the rich, not the workers.

There is nothing in the Strategic Mobility Plan that aims to address the needs of working class New Orleanians. Gentrification—with its rising rents and home costs—has driven residents, especially Black residents, further away from jobs and shopping areas.

The new regional plan only links RTA with JET but still makes the trip expensive. So, you are forced to move further away only to pay more for transportation. The RTA survey done recently and at great expense was designed by highly paid professionals who are clueless. There seems to be no end to money available conduct to such studies.

Many neighborhoods are discriminated against in new regional plan.

Here’s a survey question to ask: If buses were free, ran every fifteen minutes 24/7 and stopped near your house, would you ride the bus?

Everyone knows that when you can’t count on transportation or wait in the rain with your kids after walking 10 blocks to the bus stop you’ll do anything but ride the bus. But when buses run often, conveniently, and bus stops are sheltered, when fares are free, people ride the bus.

It was also revealed that $31 million dollars in tourist tax money was given illegally to the Convention Center for tourist company profits that should have gone to RTA. The RTA is rightfully demanding it back and we support that. But if the money is returned what will be done with it?

A new 14 passenger mini bus costs about $65,000 after fitting for wheelchairs and bike racks. (Not every bus needs to be big) You can buy 100 for only $6.5 million dollars. Add 100 drivers to the payroll at the cost of $6.5 million a year, 20 mechanics cost $1.5 million a year, 20 cleaners, $1.5 million, plus gas and permits. And you still have money left from the $31 million.

The city should prioritize hiring local people and having great bus service instead of giving 63% of the city budget to cops and jails. The community, together with the bus drivers’ union, can run the system better and serve the needs of both.

You can barely find a job, the wages are too low, you can’t afford car insurance or there is no place to park and the bus is unreliable. This amounts to illegal racist economic segregation.

Does it sound unreasonable to demand free buses? The Los Angeles Bus Riders Union organized and won free fares for lower income folks. Time to get organized.

Members of the Transit Riders Union in Seattle won the largest low-income fare program in the country in March 2015.
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City Spends Millions on Mardi Gras, But Tourism Taxes Don’t Go to the City

By LaVonna Varnado-Brown

In a March 8, 2019 press release, two days after Fat Tuesday, Mayor Cantell expressed deep gratitude to all the departments whose efforts contributed to a successful Carnival 2019. The city spent millions to mobilize the “New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans Fire Department, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, Department of Health, Department of Public Works, Department of Sanitation, Department of Property Management, Parking Enforcement, Parks and Parkways, Orleans Parish Communication District, and the New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.”

Aside from whatever enjoyment the people get out off Mardi Gras, its purpose is to bring in millions in profit for the tourist industry, which pays for none of these services. The press release magnifies the fact that the city is subsidizing multiple private industries without concern for the needs of the working class residents of New Orleans. I recognize that the mobilization of these resources is needed to ensure safety for the influx of tourists and New Orleans residents. But the contradiction is that many of these resources are denied to the residents who live and work here every day. In the case of hospitality workers and service industry employees, our work generates the bulk of the revenue that they, in private board rooms, allocate as they see fit—usually away from black, brown, low income spaces.

$180 million in hotel taxes go to private non-elected commissions to boost the profits of private companies.  It does not go into the budget.   Meanwhile we have no money for infrastructure and early childhood education. This $180 million dollars worth of stolen taxes could be allocated for childcare for service industry workers during Mardi Gras while schools are closed.  This money could be used to provide healthcare, maternity leave, and pensions to service industry and hospitality workers.  This is not money that we need to letter write and ask for politely. This money belongs to the working class and has been stolen. We Demand that it be returned and used to elevate the humanity of workers locally. Doing so can only further illuminate and strengthen the city.  The time is now to educate ourselves on the things we want to see changed. Agitate others to view the contradictions that exist. Then organize for revolution. The time for change is now and can begin with you, now.

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Hospitality Workers Shutdown Decatur Street

In commemoration of International Working Women’s Day, over 150 workers and supporters sat down in the middle of crowded Decatur St. in the French Quarter. For half an hour, the workers showed the city a taste of their power, shutting down the street in solidarity with the hospitality workers being forced to work for almost no wages, without healthcare, sick leave, or reliable public transportation. Other workers nearby cheered them on, including bus drivers and truckers who paused in their routes. Many hospitality workers came out of their workplaces raising their fists in solidarity.

The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance and the New Orleans Peoples’ Assembly led a coalition of working women to demand the city and the Tourism Board return $180 million in taxes that currently line the pockets of the rich ruling class instead of serving the people. Hospitality and workers from other industries spoke up in the streets, demanding childcare, maternity leave, sick pay, better schedules, pensions, an end to racist and sexual harassment, and healthcare. All these programs could be funded by the tax money currently hoarded by the city’s greedy capitalists. Speakers included leaders from the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance, Women With a Vision, the New Orleans Abortion Fund, the Amalgamated Transit Union (Bus Drivers) Local 1560, Erase the Board Coalition, New Orleans Workers Group, and others. The rally was conducted in English and Spanish.

As the workers marched out of the French Quarter, they chanted “We’ll be back,” promising to continue the fight.

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New Orleans: We Must Fight Get the Stolen Taxes Back

Every year non-elected commissions of capitalists steal $180 million in taxes. These commissions include the Convention Center, the Superdome, Tourism Commission and others. Every year, the city of New Orleans brings in billions because of the hard work of hospitality workers. That labor also brings in the $180 million in taxes. But instead of this going into the city budget and set aside for workers’ benefits and community needs, they are used to produce more profit for the white capitalist hospitality owners.

The Hospitality Workers Alliance, Peoples’ Assembly and a coalition of organizations representing the working women of New Orleans are demanding these stolen taxes be used to support the workers with childcare resources, healthcare, and other services that are needed for our survival. For months, the HWA has been protesting this theft and highlighting the lack of benefits workers in the city face, including protesting at the Tourism Commission and the Convention Center. Together with the Peoples’ Assembly, they are calling for a March 16th protest.

Recently, Mayor Cantrell has requested $12 million of these tax dollars be returned to the city for infrastructure. This is a small request and doesn’t acknowledge the workers or community needs. Even this minor request was met with racist arrogance by Stephen Perry, head of the Convention Center, who earns $500,000 a year from the stolen taxes. Governor Edwards and reactionary state legislators also dismissed Cantrell’s modest demands, once again denying right of home rule to the people of New Orleans.

While it’s good that Mayor Cantrell is even raising this demand, at a recent meeting she stated that she is not trying to start a fight or divide the city. Well, the city is already and increasingly divided between the rich, majority white ruling class who owns everything and the majority Black working class who struggle with low wages and gentrification. The city should be calling the people out to fight for not only $12 million but the whole $180 million that rightfully belongs to the people.

The racist attitudes of the hospitality bosses and state legislature are reflected in the treatment of workers in the city. Recent studies from the Data Center report that people of color, especially women, are paid less, intentionally hired for lower paying positions while white men are given better paying jobs. Big Easy Magazine cites that 68% of hotel housekeepers, 81% of whom are Black and LatinX, earn an average of $10.60/hr. Over half of all hotel workers are women, but the majority earn much less than $15/hour. It is widely acknowledged that at least $19 an hour is necessary to live in the city.

Although hospitality workers are responsible for the city’s wealth, they see little of it themselves. This is our city. This is our money. We demand that it be used to serve us, not the super-rich.

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Women Hospitality Workers Declare: “We’re Fed Up and We’re Organizing for Ourselves & Our Families. Return $180 Million in Tourist Tax Dollars to the People!”

The Hospitality Workers Alliance (HWA) and Peoples’ Assembly have issued the following call to Action:

Honor Women Hospitality Workers Saturday March 16, International Working Women’s Day

Billions of dollars flow into New Orleans which has been designated a number one tourist spot. This is due to the hard work of restaurant, hotel, retail and other workers. It is our labor that brings in $180 million a year in tourist tax revenues that go directly to Private Commissions and Corporations, not the city budget. This is free money to boost profits.

$180 million in Tax Revenues belong to the people

When you add in tax exemptions for real estate developers, private universities, and other corporations, the working class of our city is being defrauded and our tax revenues stolen. Yet our wages are low, our jobs are insecure and we lack benefits. The conditions of hospitality workers affect all working-class communities and our families’ lives.

We protested at the Tourist Commission asking that money be used for health care clinic or insurance for hospitality workers. At the Convention Center we protested the further rip-off to build a hotel that will not pay taxes but will produce private profit and get public funds.

We take note that Mayor Cantrell has finally asked the Convention Center for a mere $7 million for infrastructure, and even this is being rebuffed. We Demand:

  1. The $180 million a year in stolen taxes go to:
  2. $50 million for sick, maternity leave, vacation pay and pension funds for hospitality workers
  3. $50 million for health coverage for all hospitality workers
  4. $40 million for fully funded, free, accessible child care centers
  5. $20 million be used for infrastructure like fixing streets
  6. $20 million to fully fund all early child hood education

We are inviting all organizations, social clubs, unions, and faith-based institutions to join us that day. We cannot depend on the politicians in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. We must mobilize a movement to demand our rights.

All workers, women and men, can get involved.