Louisiana gives massive tax breaks to chemical manufacturers and the contentious program is facing renewed scrutiny. 

Gov. Jeff Landry recently signed an executive order removing some job retention requirements from Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, known as ITEP. 

Proponents of the change say it will stabilize the incentive program. While critics argue it removes a level of accountability and unravels some of the reforms made to the program in 2016 under former Gov. John Bel Edwards. 

Today, we dive deep into the program’s economic impacts. 

Nick Messenger is an economist with the Ohio River Valley Institute, a non-partisan non-profit economics and energy policy research think tank. He recently released a report detailing the impacts ITEP has and hasn’t had.

Greg Bowser, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association, represents the interests of more than 60 chemical manufacturing companies in Louisiana. He shares how businesses are benefiting.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.

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