TNO applauds Gov. Edwards for standing up for local control and rejecting Folger’s tax exemptions

New Orleans Schools, Police, Services to Benefit from at least $13.4M in tax revenue

Together New Orleans applauds Governor John Bel Edwards’ decision today to back local control over industrial tax exemptions, denying tax giveaways to Folger’s Coffee Company, which had been rejected unanimously at the local level but reinstated by the State Board of Commerce and Industry. The Governor’s announcement ends a drawn-out battle between the coffee giant and New Orleans residents and officials over tens of millions in taxes Folger will owe. 

“For five years now, Folger’s has been allowed to operate under a different set of rules from any other taxpayer in the State,” said Rev. JC Richardson, a member of the Executive Committee of Together New Orleans. “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to go through all this, just to get one big company to pay its taxes.”

“But we don’t live in a perfect world. And in the world we’ve got, the Governor stood by his word. He balanced the scales today and brought a little bit more fairness to a place that needs it.”