LA TAX COLLECTION BILL – Louisiana’s legislative session is fast approaching, scheduled to begin April 8th, about 2 weeks away. Some bills have been pre-filed which are certain to receive considerable debate. A bill to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Louisiana from 18 to 21-years-old including tobacco, alternative nicotine, or vapor products is likely to get its share of attention. But one bill involving how the state collects sales taxes could become a major focal point. HB57 aims to change the way local sales taxes are collected. Right now the 64 parish governments in Louisiana collect sales taxes. Instead of having businesses pay local sales taxes to individual parishes, they would bypass local collectors and go straight to the state. Representative Tanner Magee (R-Houma) is the bill’s author, he explains that internet sales are one reason for the change.
"It's increasingly difficult, you have 64 tax collectors," explained Tanner. "The other states, the majority of them, 47 of them have a centralized sales tax collection system which makes it easier when you're trying to collect from these online sources."
While Magee’s bill has support from the Louisiana Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, it is expected to get opposition from local governments because of concerns about cash-flow situations that could arise from centralized tax collection. The Louisiana legislature has been reluctant about tax reforms in the past. The state’s Constitution requires the bill would need support from two-thirds of both chambers in the Legislature and clear a vote of the people before becoming law.
