Louisiana lawmakers advance bill to add dozens of services to sales tax collection

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) -- The Louisiana legislature has advanced a bill that will add dozens of services to be subject to sales tax. Lawmakers showed some concerns about what the true cost to businesses and citizens will be.

House Bill 9 adds 41 more services to the sales tax, which means local and state taxes will apply. That includes landscaping, home repairs, dog grooming and more.

Some lawmakers fear this unfairly impacts small businesses that may not be collecting sales taxes on their services and will have to wade through confusing laws to determine if they comply.

“So I was asking you earlier about how we decided which services to tax, which ones not to tax. Is that not sort of a version of picking winners and losers?” said state Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans.

The expanded tax base would bring in around $500 million a year to help offset the income tax reduction also proposed in this session. The legislature is also looking to make the temporary .45 sales tax permanent and keep in place the 2% tax on commercial utilities. This will help make up the $1.3-billion loss for changing the income tax to a flat 3% for everyone.

Those in favor of the bill said this expansion of the tax makes it worth it to give everyone a tax cut through the income tax, thus freeing up more money for them to potentially spend on these services should they choose to.

“To let them spend at the discretion as they would like to which budget back in [that] disposable income or whatever it might be, personal and private investment that stimulates the economy,” said state Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia.

Some Democrats are also concerned that some of the new services are unavoidable and not a true “luxury” as is suggested by the administration.

“These are new taxes. I'm not paying them right now. This is a tax on fixing the window, the fence, all these things. So we're raising taxes,” said state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans.

With the tax on repairs, lobbyists for insurance companies said this could lead to premiums going up to cover the additional costs. There is an exemption to the tax for repairs and reconstruction that is due to natural disasters that have a declared emergency.

The bill now heads to the full House.

Check out the full list of services proposed in the bill:

• Storage for boats and vessels of less than 50 tons load displacement and trailers.
• Auto club services and fees including road and travel services.
• Car wash services.
• Coin-operated machines or devices that dispense only services and not merchandise, music, skill, or pleasure.
• Installation, repair, and maintenance of taxable computer software, and related training.
• Condominium timeshare and exchange services.
• Dating and social matching services and marriage bureaus.
• Delivery, shipping, freight, and transportation services associated with a taxable sale of tangible personal property.
• Non-medical diet and weight reduction services including commercial weight loss services not prescribed by a healthcare provider.
• Immovable property repair, maintenance, and installation services (excluding new construction, reconstruction, and capital improvements as defined in proposed law).
• Information services as defined in proposed law.
• Interior decorating and design services.
• Intrastate limousine, bus, and van transportation services and taxi cab and rideshare services.
• Landscaping, lawn care, and horticulture services.
• Linen supply services.
• Lobbying services.
• Machine and equipment operator services provided with machine or equipment rental.
• Mailing services.
• Marina services provided with respect to boats and vessels of less than 50 tons load displacement.
• Personal fitness training services.
• Pet grooming, boarding, sitting, training, and obedience services.
• Photography and photographic studio services, including sitting fees.
• Photofinishing and film development services.
• Private process server services.
• Public opinion and research polling services.
• Quilting, embroidery, and monogramming services.
• Repairs, maintenance, and installation of tangible personal property.
• Repossession services.
• Restroom operations and comfort station services.
• Security services as defined in proposed law.
• Personal shopping services for individuals.
• Social event planning and coordination services and catering services.
• Spa services, massages by massage parlors, and steam baths.
• Rental of space for meetings, conventions, short-term business uses, entertainment events, weddings, banquets, parties, and other short-term social events.
• Furnishing of space for storage of tangible personal property by a person engaged in the business of furnishing storage space. (Expands present law on taxation of storage space which imposes sales tax only on the furnishing of cold storage.)
• Skin tanning services.
• Body modification services including tattooing, piercing, scarification, and branding.
• Travel and travel package services including services of travel agents and travel clubs.
• Except as prohibited by federal law, cable television services, direct-to-home satellite services, video programming services, and satellite digital audio radio services.
• Services provided through warranty agreements, extended warranty agreements, and service contracts.
• With certain exceptions as provided in proposed law, waste collection and disposal services (excluding public or private municipal waste management).
• Wrecking and towing services.

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