President’s Message: Alibaba and the Sales Tax Thieves
Over the last year and a half, I have written several messages about the pressing need for passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act. In those messages, I have cited numerous reasons including:
- To level the playing field.
- The government shouldn’t be choosing winners and losers by providing unfair tax advantages to some.
- The taxes are owed so this is not a new tax – just a loophole in the law (which over 98% of people don’t choose to pay).
- Lost sales tax revenues are crippling our state and local governments who depend on this revenue and this will only get worse unless this trend is reversed – either services will be cut or taxes will be raised in other ways.
Now, you can add yet another reason to the list – Alibaba (a Chinese company larger than Amazon and eBay combined) – recently launched the largest IPO in Wall Street history. The current loophole in the internet sales tax law will allow foreign companies, like Alibaba, to unfairly compete with our U.S. retailers who employ people here, pay taxes here, and have brick and mortar presence here. That is unfair. Watch the latest commercial that is now being run by the Alliance for Main Street Fairness.
Recently, I was in Washington, D.C. with a small group of CEOs representing the International Council of Shopping Centers. We met with key members of Congress to urge them to pass Efairness legislation. This ICSC article offers more details about our meetings.
The good news is that they are listening, but we need to continue to have our voices heard. This link offers an easy method to take action by phone, email or tweet. I encourage you to contact your members of Congress today.
Super Region Economy Driving Louisiana Growth
Well respected Louisiana economic experts, Dr. Loren Scott and Dr. James Richardson, released the results of their 2015 Louisiana Economic Outlook.
Based on their forecast, Louisiana will set records statewide and in a number of metro areas for the most non-farm jobs in its history, surpassing 2 million across the state.
The Super Region – consisting of Baton Rouge, Houma-Thibodaux and New Orleans – is forecast to see incredible growth over the next two years. The area is expected to produce 62 percent of Louisiana’s non-farm job creation – a combined 41,400 of the state’s 66,700 new jobs by the end of 2016.
While much of this growth is being fueled by the industrial boom from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge and down river to New Orleans, the encouraging fact is that there are several other sectors, both traditional and emerging, that make Louisiana more diverse. Traditional sectors include international trade, advanced manufacturing and energy. Digital media, information technology, emerging environmental related to water and water management, coastal restoration, and medical are among Louisiana’s emerging sectors.
Putting all of these together, the future has never been brighter for our state and our region.
For additional news coverage about the 2015 Louisiana Economic Outlook:
- “Louisiana forecast to gain 66,700 jobs through 2016”
The Advocate - “News alert: Scott sees La. reaching record employment in 2015”
Greater Baton Rouge Business Report - “Baton Rouge’s more than $16 billion in industrial projects expected to drive jobs beyond 400K in 2015”
NOLA.com
Survey Finds Louisianans Strongly Support Marketplace Fairness
As a follow-up to my previous posts about the Marketplace Fairness Act, I wanted to share the results of a recent Louisiana-specific poll. Results released by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) indicate an overwhelming majority of Louisianans (78 percent!) support federal legislation that requires online-only sellers to collect sales tax at the time of purchase. A national poll revealed similar results with the support of 70 percent of Americans.
Here’s a summary of the poll’s other key findings:
- 89 percent of Louisianans think it would be easier to collect sales tax from online-only vendors at the time of purchase, versus paying sales and use taxes through special forms or when filing income taxes as is currently required in many states (82 percent in national poll)
- 89 percent of Louisianans say local retailers are important to their community’s economic health (93 percent in national poll)
Louisianans and the Nation agree that it is time to pass Marketplace Fairness, which, after being combined with the Internet Tax Freedom Act, is the legislation now known as the Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act (MITFA), S. 2609. As I have previously stated, it is important to level the playing field for our retailers who are employing people and paying taxes in our communities. The passage of this bill is critical to the Commercial Real Estate industry, brick-and-mortar retailers and perhaps more importantly, to our state and local governments.
I strongly encourage each of you to contact your representative and to promote this issue on social media sites with the hashtags #efairness, #MITFA, or #efairnessnow.
Forbes: Houma-Thibodaux among America’s Booming Small Cities 2014
Forbes has ranked Houma-Thibodaux the #8 fastest growing small city in the country, featuring the lowest unemployment rate in the USA at 2.8% and per capita personal income growth of nearly 50% from 2000 to 2012.
This ranking on the heels of the recent rankings of Baton Rouge #2, Mobile #3 and New Orleans #5 for Economic Growth Potential by Business Facilities magazine once again demonstrates the tremendous strength and growth of our entire super region. The Top 10 ranking of the Houma-Thibodaux area underscores the primary motivation for our recent acquisition of Ansley Place Apartments in Houma earlier this year.
You can read the entire Forbes article here.
President’s Message: A Championship Season
With the coming of Fall (hopefully soon) and the kickoff of a brand new football season filled with lofty expectations, excitement is in the air.
Let’s cheer our economic environment – our region remains strong and the nation continues to notice. Just last week, Louisiana was recognized again by a national publication – this time ranking #1 for Best Business Climate in the United States on Business Facilities’ annual Rankings Report, with Alabama rounding out the Top 10. According to the article, “if natural gas, gumbo and Mardi Gras are the only things that come to mind when you think about Louisiana, think again. Name a growth sector – digital media, advanced manufacturing, IT/software – and Louisiana has a specific program geared to welcome new players, with a proven track record of successful startups.”
Perhaps even more impressive, the same magazine’s annual Metro Rankings Report placed Baton Rouge #2, Mobile #3 and New Orleans #5 for Economic Growth Potential – three cities along the booming Gulf Coast in the Top 5, and all are cities where Stirling Properties is actively engaged. Other metro markets in our region are expanding as well – namely Lake Charles, Lafayette, Houma/Thibodaux and Shreveport/Bossier City.
Since my last President’s Message, Stirling too has continued to expand and grow in all of these markets. Our recent efforts include the acquisition of John Toomey & Company in Mobile, commencement of Phase II of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell and the addition of Sam’s Club to Stirling Bossier Shopping Center in Bossier City. We also have in the pipeline two new retail developments in Lake Charles and Lafayette, and we are actively involved in a number of other exciting initiatives.
Our new projects and growth, positive national rankings for our region and the upcoming football season are all certainly creating a buzz of excitement around here…let’s add football champions to the growing list!
President’s Message: A Wild Ride
In my last President’s Message, I talked about how much had been accomplished in 2013 and how the year ended with a flurry of activity. Well, the first quarter of 2014 has been wild in many ways also (including the weather)!
This year began with the groundbreaking of Magnolia Marketplace in New Orleans, a 100,000+ square-foot shopping center we are developing with JCH Development that will bring new retailers to an underserved portion of Central City. And just days later, we announced the contract for Perkins Rowe, a high-profile, mixed-use property with 364,648 square feet of retail and 126,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus upscale apartments and condominiums. The contract to provide leasing, sales and property and construction management services represents the single largest such contract in Stirling’s history.
Additionally, we celebrated 2 Grand Openings during the 1st Quarter. The first was for Phase I of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, a regional shopping center anchored by Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy & T.J.Maxx that we are developing in partnership with CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. A new, full-service Walgreens also grand opened in Terrytown on the Westbank of New Orleans, which was followed a few weeks later by our announcement that we will be developing a full-service Walgreens in Metairie at the intersection of Veterans & Power Boulevards.
As our business continues to boom, so too does the Gulf South Region. I have had the opportunity to share the positive news about our markets numerous times during the last quarter. It is something I truly get very passionate about doing.
In February, I was invited to give the ACREcon Keynote Presentation at the annual conference hosted by the Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACREcon) in Birmingham with over 500 in attendance. In early March, Jimmy Maurin, Townsend Underhill and I were asked to give a presentation on the New Orleans market and economy at the Annual Spring meeting of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Foundation Governor’s Board in New Orleans. One of the reasons I love giving these presentations is because the reaction by the audience afterward is always amazement at what is happening down here in the Gulf Coast – The Third Coast.
And despite the fact that spring is here, there is no time for rest. We are currently preparing for ICSC ReCon in Las Vegas. And stay tuned for some new announcements in the near future – it’s going to be a wild ride.
