New Orleans has a budget crisis because our population is shrinking.
Our population is shrinking because people cannot afford to live here.
If efforts to fix the budget crisis raise taxes and fees on ordinary people, this cycle will continue.
At the same time, our City is giving away millions in corporate tax giveaways, not for economic development, but in corporate welfare. Folgers Coffee (we learned last week) got a tax exemption in late 2025 from the State Board of Commerce and Industry, which will deepen the City's budget hole by $2 million -- and it so far has gone uncontested by the City.
TNO's cost-of-living team is leading an effort to fight back -- against the home insurance spiral, utility hikes, regressive taxes and fees and corporate welfare that cuts services and raises costs for everyone else.
At the session on Tuesday, we’ll educate ourselves on this context and build the effort to fight back.
Please RSVP by Sunday (3/29) if you plan to attend: togethernola.org/march31