Georgia-Pacific to cancel request for tax break after laying off 650 in Louisiana

Georgia-Pacific said Friday it is dropping its request for a $2 million property tax break that promised 30 new jobs, a day after the firm announced it will lay off nearly 700 workers, mostly at a Baton Rouge-area paper mill.

“This morning we’re requesting to the Commerce and Industry board to not move forward with our ITEP project because we clearly won’t meet the job requirement component of it,” said Georgia-Pacific spokesman Kelly Ferguson.

Local officials voted in the past month to approve the Industrial Tax Exemption application for a $42 million expansion of Georgia-Pacific’s facilities. The tax break would have been worth $2 million to the company over five years.

The Industrial Tax Exemption Program, or ITEP, is a controversial incentive that gives manufacturers in Louisiana a break on their property taxes. Local officials have the ability to vote on the exemptions because of a 2016 executive order by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Read more: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_99c46036-15c4-11e9-9db9-d376cda77662.html