LAIA Industry Insider – LNG
September 28, 2022
Lake Area Industry Alliance releases the amount of property taxes paid by industries in Calcasieu Parish in 2022. According to figures obtained from the Calcasieu Assessor’s office, local industries paid approximately $81 million in property tax. Nine of the top 11 property taxpayers were local industries.
This tax revenue is divided among several local entities, the main ones being the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, Calcasieu Parish School Board and the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. Over $50 million went to parish taxing districts including the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, the Calcasieu Parish School Board received almost $20 million and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office received almost $10 million.
“Local industries are a strong economic benefit to Southwest Louisiana,” explains Jim Rock, executive director of Lake Area Industry Alliance. “In addition to property tax, local industries pay even more in local and state sales tax annually, which is a major contributor to the government revenue. The tax dollars benefit our community by going towards infrastructure upgrades for roads, bridges, stormwater systems and other facilities, funding for law enforcement equipment and school improvement projects to make our region better. The impact to our region is significant.”
In 2022 local industries also paid over $1.2 billion in salaries to direct employees, and donated over $200,000 to the SOWELA Foundation. One local industry has donated over $200,000 to the McNeese State University engineering department over a five-year period for enhancing engineering education. Local industries donated millions to other charitable causes. In addition, local industry employees volunteered over 25,000 hours to area events, including Partners in Education, Paint Recycling, E-Recycling and Chem Expo. Lake Area Industry Alliance is made up of 24 members of local industries. Member companies and other information can be found at www.laia.com.
