Louisiana residents on both sides of the aisle think they are paying too much in sales taxes

Published: April 6, 2021

By: Samantha Beekman | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Wire) – In 2018, it was only one-sixth of a penny that divided legislators over how much of an expiring penny of sales tax to extend before they compromised on 0.45%.

Now, Louisiana residents on both sides of the aisle think they are paying too much in sales taxes, as indicated by new data from the LSU Public Policy Research Lab.

According to a survey that the lab released Tuesday, 61% of Republicans and 53% of Democrats think that the state sales tax is too high – a bipartisan majority of Louisiana residents.

Since July 2018, the state sales tax rate has been 4.45%, a decrease from 5% the state had levied for the two years before that. That 0.45% portion was extended until 2025, and parishes add their own sales taxes to purchases.

Combining state and local sales tax rates, Louisiana has the second-highest average sales tax rate in the nation at an average of 9.55%, according to data from the Tax Foundation.

Despite widespread grievances with sales taxes, 52% of Louisiana residents say they pay about the right amount in overall state taxes. Half of the survey respondents think that upper-income people pay less than their fair share of state taxes, and a majority – 56% – say the same about large businesses.

Read more at KALB