Gov. Jeff Landry’s team has signed off on a package of industrial tax exemptions for Folger Coffee Co. that New Orleans officials rejected years ago, reviving incentives tied to major upgrades at the company’s New Orleans East roasting and packaging plants. The approval restores tax breaks on equipment investments and gives Folgers a route to claw back millions it previously paid under protest. Local leaders and watchdogs say the move chips away at reforms meant to keep tax authority local while the city wrestles with tight budgets.
State filings indicate the Louisiana Board of Commerce & Industry signed off on several Folgers Industrial Tax Exemption Program applications at its Aug. 27, 2025 meeting, according to Louisiana Board of Commerce & Industry. That board vote opened the door for the governor’s office to reinstate exemptions that New Orleans taxing bodies had blocked earlier in the decade.
Folgers’ exemption requests drew intense local pushback in 2020 and 2021, when the City Council and the Orleans Parish School Board rejected several applications as already completed or not beneficial enough, as reported by The Lens. Residents and advocacy groups argued the city could not afford to give up tax revenue during the pandemic-era budget crunch.
What the state approved
According to reporting from NOLA.com, Landry’s decision covers tax breaks tied to roughly $200 million in bean-roasting and packaging equipment at Folgers’ New Orleans facilities and leaves the company eligible to recoup taxes it previously paid. NOLA.com also reported that Folgers paid about $4.1 million on disputed bills between 2019 and 2022 under protest, and that the Landry administration reached a separate $3 million settlement with the company in 2024. The governor’s office, the report says, framed the action as protecting more than 680 Louisiana jobs and keeping Folgers among the city’s top taxpayers.
Local leaders push back
Council President J.P. Morrell has criticized the move, saying the exemptions are being restored “at a time when the city is struggling to dig itself out of a cash crunch,” a concern echoed by other city officials in the reporting. Orleans Parish Assessor Devin Johnson told NOLA.com that the actual taxed value will be lower because of depreciation, a detail that could blunt the exemptions’ long-term fiscal impact.
Legal and budget fallout
Folgers contested local denials in court, and the dispute has already bounced through state agencies and judges, illustrating how ITEP fights can tie up tax bills for years, as Louisiana Illuminator reported. That earlier episode ended with Gov. John Bel Edwards rejecting some exemptions in 2023 and city officials sending Folgers a multi-million-dollar tax bill, but the legal and administrative back-and-forth means new approvals could prompt fresh challenges…