Katrina Coverage

Mary Landrieu: It's Never Enough has all the facts and figures on how much Louisiana gets from the federal government:

…As illustrated by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, federal income taxes collected from residents and businesses in Louisiana have only increased by 11 percent in the period from 1997 through 2003. Yet, at the same time, federal receipts for the entire nation grew by 23 percent, meaning that Louisiana’s contribution to the federal government since Landrieu was elected is growing at a 52 percent slower rate than the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, what Landrieu’s state takes from federal coffers has by no means experienced such a slow rate of growth. On the contrary, during this same period, Louisiana’s take of federal funds has increased by 44 percent, or an astounding four times the rate of growth in its federal income taxes collected. At the same time, federal spending for the entire country only increased by 38 percent.

Taking this further, before Landrieu was elected, the average person in Louisiana received $992 more in funds and/or services from the federal government than was paid in federal income taxes by the state per capita. That number exploded to $2,691 in 2003 – an outlandish 171 percent increase. As a result, Louisianans have gone from receiving $1.28 per capita in federal funds for every dollar of federal income taxes they paid before Landrieu was elected to a 2003 level of $1.47 – a 15 percent increase…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2005 at 7:11 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.