BATON ROUGE — Louisiana jumped nine spots in the Tax Foundation's 2027 Tax Competitiveness Index, the largest gain of any state. 

The index measures a state's tax structure against the other 50 states, factoring in corporate, individual income, sales and excise, property and wealth, and unemployment insurance taxes. The Tax Foundation compares it to the Wins Against Replacement (WAR) statistic in baseball.

"A well-structured tax code won’t make the Wyoming Basin a metropolis, nor will poor tax structure make Manhattan a ghost town. But tax structure does play a role in a state’s economic successes or failures, and often a substantial one. Every state can benefit from a simple, neutral, transparent, pro-growth tax structure."

In the 2027 index, Louisiana moved up from No. 32 to 23. In 2024, the state was ranked as low as 40th.

The Tax Foundation attributed the gain to the elimination of the state's capital stock tax and to the state now allowing S corporations to file through the individual income tax. 

To learn more about the Tax Competitiveness Index, click here.