House Speaker Clay Schexnayder’s proposal to centralize Louisiana’s sales tax collection system gets positive reviews from a House committee. Schexnayder proposes using a single board to collect local and sales taxes, which would make it easier on small businesses and assure the right amount of taxes is collected.
“Shame on us if we don’t put the mechanisms in place that our constituents back home are paying for today and we’re not collecting it doing our job.”
A task force came up with Schexnayder’s centralized sales tax collection proposal. It will need two-thirds support in both the House and Senate and Schexnayder says a constitutional amendment to streamline Louisiana’s sales tax system will appear before the voters in the fall.
“Our constituents back home get to vote on this, we don’t make the final decision they do and that’s always important.”
Shreveport Representative Tammy Phelps says she supports the idea of a centralized sales tax system, but she’s concerned about whether voters will understand what this proposed constitutional amendment will do.
“They will be calling our offices to say what does this mean? Break the language down for me in laymens terms.”
Currently, sales tax is collected by the state as well as individual cities and parishes. Louisiana is one of three states without a streamlined system.
The measure was approved on a 14 to 1 vote by the House Ways and Means Committee.
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