Louisiana Tax Collection Drops $500 Million Year-to-Year
Hows the Louisiana economy looking... To put it bluntly, not good.
Look, it's no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unimaginable pain and change. What our world, our country, and our state is currently going through is unlike anything most of us have ever experienced during our lifetime. Years from now, our grandchildren are going to be studying the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020 in History class.
I'm sure my grandchildren will ask me about it and what I was doing during the pandemic. To that question, I'll simply say, "Oh you know, I was doing what all of us were doing back then, sharing memes and stuff."
In all seriousness, this is a truly remarkable scenario we are currently living through, and in the real world, we're seeing some of it's dastardly effects right before our eyes. Businesses are closing permanently on seemingly a daily basis, and hard workers are continuing to lose jobs.
Unemployment is at an all-time high, and I don't feel like most people are going out and spending aka feeding our economy the way we used to. Sure, we're going out and getting essentials, and we're trying our best to continue shopping and supporting local, but there's no doubt our spending habits have changed.
In April 2020 compared to April 2019, our state's tax and fee collections has dropped by nearly $500 Million. Experts are predicting an even bigger drop for May, and they expect our tax collections to remain low for the foreseeable future.
When our businesses begin to open back up, let's make sure we go out and give them as much support as we all individually can.