A PEOPLE CENTERED ECONOMIC PLAN
Prioritizing People, Prosperity and Resilience
Reverse Jindal-nomics
Problem: Louisiana's regressive tax system causes working and middle-class families, which represent 90% of citizens, to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than millionaires and big corporations.
Solution: End the billion dollar giveaways at the top and provide tax cuts to families.
End the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP)
Background: Currently, the ITEP program withholds hundreds of millions of dollars in vital revenue from our local communities, effectively operating as a corporate welfare rubber stamp.
Solution: To better serve our communities, ITEP should undergo a comprehensive restructuring. This transformation will ensure that ITEP exclusively benefits industries that prioritize economic diversification, offer long-term value, and uphold environmentally responsible practices, while simultaneously excluding those that fail to meet federal standards.
Invest in People and Small Towns
Problems: We’ve sustained too many costly cuts to investments in our people, especially during the Jindal administration, and this trend continues today. People are the driving force behind our economy, but neglecting their needs leads to poverty, rural underinvestment, and youth migration from small towns.
Solutions:
- Rural Financing and Revitalization: Ensure equitable access to financial services for small towns, reducing the prevalence of food and banking deserts, which attract predatory industries.
- Healthcare: Protect Medicaid expansion and improve access to healthcare.
- Needy Families: We’ve been pilfering the funds set aside for needy families (TANF) and used to fill budget holes left from tax cuts to corporations. This needs to go to families that need it, and we need to simplify access to get it in their hands.
- Wages: Implement a living wage.
- Quality of Life:
Foster long-term regional plans and support electric vehicle infrastructure.
Diversifying Energy for New Jobs
Current Landscape: Decades-long decline in fossil fuel jobs and corporate tax revenue.
Green Energy Initiatives: Prioritize projects using green bond issues for net-zero emissions.
Investment Strategy:
- Leverage existing infrastructure and know-how for leadership in new energy.
- End politically motivated bans on clean energy investments and banking restrictions at the bond commission that strip millions of dollars from local communities.
- Reconsider bans on green energy, "responsible" investing, and large banks.
Let’s make sure we remain the nation’s energy leader for the next hundred years.
Empty the Unclaimed Property Vault
Background: Louisiana's Unclaimed Property Vault holds $1 billion, averaging $900 per person, which remains unclaimed due to bureaucratic obstacles.
Solution:
Proactively streamline processes and eliminate bureaucratic hurdles to efficiently return this unclaimed property to its rightful owners, putting these funds back into the hands of Louisianans.
AN AGENDA FOR BLACK LOUISIANA:
INVESTING IN A STRONGER, SMARTER, SUCCESSFUL LOUISIANA
Since statehood, Black Louisianans have built up the arts, culture, food, and economic opportunities in our state. History has shown that Louisiana has never returned the investment back to the Black community, and quality of life statistics show how the community has been left behind due to a lack of adequate state investment to build stronger communities.
Dustin Granger is running for Treasurer to make sure every Louisiana resident gets a return on their investments, and once elected, he'll utilize the Treasurer's office to address the issues Black Louisianans face most.
