Louisiana Centralized Sales Tax Bill Passes House With Bipartisan Support

By Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator

April 21, 2021

The Louisiana House approved a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday that would create a centralized state agency to work on streamlining sales tax collections in the state and change the currently fragmented system of collections by individual cities, parishes and other agencies.

House Bill 199, sponsored by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, would create the State and Local Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Commission to eventually handle sales tax administration and collections. Cities, parishes and other tax authorities would retain their powers to set and levy taxes. The legislation is one of a number of different tax reform bills that lawmakers are considering this session.

The commission would be comprised of eight members:

• One member appointed by the La. School Boards Association.

As a constitutional amendment, the bill will next head to the Senate where it will need two-thirds approval before it is placed on a ballot for Louisiana voters to consider. The House approved it with an overwhelming and bipartisan majority of 96-4 but only after hours of debate.

Louisiana’s current sales tax system relies on 54 different collecting agencies including individual parishes, cities, sheriffs, police juries, school boards and other government entities. Although the bill establishes the constitutional authority, membership and funding for the new centralized tax commission, it does not establish the actual statutory means or framework of collecting the sales tax remittances, which will have to come from companion legislation.

“If we don’t pass a statutory companion, this goes away…it’s toast,” Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, said. Beaullieu was critical in crafting the bill and getting it passed.

Local governments would retain their auditing authority for in-state taxpayers, while the commission would serve as the central auditing authority for all out-of-state taxpayers. Also, the legislature would retain oversight of the commission.

The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians, particularly those who are poor or otherwise marginalized.