New data recently released by the Tax Foundation reconfirms the fact that the residential property tax burden in Louisiana is the lowest in the nation. The Tax Foundation is recognized as an unbiased source of the most accurate and up-to-date tax information in America. The foundation recently released results of its study of the three year average (2006-2008) of residential property taxes in U.S. counties with populations of 20,000 or more.
Not surprisingly, the highest residential property tax burdens were in counties in New York and New Jersey. The high property tax burden in those states—coupled with excessively high income taxes—is resulting in families moving to lower tax regions. The Tax Foundation measured the property tax burden in three categories: median real estate taxes paid; median real estate tax as a percentage of median home value; and median real estate tax as a percentage of homeowner income.
The bottom ten “counties” listed for median real estate taxes paid were not counties but “parishes.” They all were in Louisiana. Lowest was Franklin Parish ($117) followed by: Allen Parish at $119; Vernon and Avoyelles at $120; Richland at $122; Sabine at $124; Webster at $125; Jefferson Davis and Evangeline at $127; and De Soto at $129. The national median for real estate taxes paid was $1854.
The bottom 10 “counties” for median real estate taxes as a percentage of median home value once again were all in Louisiana. St. Bernard and St. John Parishes were the lowest in the nation with a 0.11 percent ratio between the amount of property tax paid to the value of homes. Tangipahoa was next at 0.12 percent followed by Lafourche, Assumption, St. James, West Baton Rouge, Avoyelles, and Terrebonne at 0.14 percent.Livingston Parish was next at 0.15 percent. The national median was 0.96 percent.
The bottom ten “counties” in the category of median real estate taxes as a percentage of home owner income were again all in the BayouState. Vernon Parish was lowest in the nation at 0.25 percent of homeowner income expended on paying property taxes. Next in line were: Vermilion, Allen, and Evangeline at 0.25 percent; Beauregard and Webster at 0.27; and Jefferson Davis, De Soto, St. John the Baptist, and Lafourche at 0.28 percent. The national median was 2.85 percent.
In fact, Louisiana parishes go far beyond occupying the bottom ten in all of these rankings. In the category of property taxes paid, Louisiana parishes occupy 27 of the bottom 30 spots in the nation. When measured as a percentage of home value, Louisiana parishes occupied 25 of the bottom 30 spots. And when measuring property taxes as a percentage of income, Louisiana parishes held 29 of the bottom 30 positions.
No matter how it is measured, residential property taxes in Louisiana are the lowest—by far!—in the nation. No other state is even remotely close. One of the leading contributors to that designation is the presence of the highest homestead exemption in the nation at $75,000. Of course, that doesn’t mean that every property tax payer in Louisiana is getting such a bargain. The fact that so much residential property value is removed from the rolls means that other property tax payers—especially businesses—are paying higher real estate taxes to offset the low residential collections.
Almost every year there is legislation introduced in the Legislature to increase Louisiana’s homestead exemption and to freeze residential assessments, legislation that would make businesses pay even more of the property tax burden. The data recently released by the Tax Foundation clearly illustrates the absurdity of those attempts.
Depender, If people knew exactly how much of the income is consumed by taxes at every level, they'd rise up and revolt. Written by
on 11/14/2009
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As far as the 'Homestead exemption' YOU MONEY GRUBBING POLITICOS KEEP YOUR FRIGGEN COD SCRATCHERS OFF THAT...... It is already bad enough in a State that has water everywhere you look that we have to pay unbelievable water bills... Written by
on 11/14/2009
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- - - - - - "written by" how do you propose we finance government services? - - - ---- - - - That is a fairly simple question to ask, and as for an answer, you would first be capable of understanding the problems which caused the ponderance in the first place…… A reasonable analogy was made when you spoke of folks that ‘milk the system’…….. But it goes deeper than just that….. We have laws that are helter-skelter, programs that are inept, policies that are out of balance, and overall ideals shared by a growing consensus amongst our population that are counter productive…. So…… to begin to provide an answer one must first examine productivity, cost and reason coupled with measurable outcome of all expended energies and efforts involved…… And from there, you can start measuring how much feed you have to put out in the feed dishes for the chickens in the henhouse so that they can continue providing ‘buffalo wings’ and eggs for the society that allows them to live and propagate in the first place….. It is all, and I mean ALL linked to productivity and responsive action… Written by
on 11/14/2009
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It's important to be aware of how businesses who work for the government can be dishonest by promoting a service as necessary when it is not, or overcharging for services or equipment; so too it is important to realize how individuals and political parties use "government necessity" as a ruse to line their pockets or reward big campaign donors. "Honesty" and "dishonesty" are the critical criteria, more so than "government" or "private sector." The big differences are 1) government MAKES the rules and 2) government doesn't have to continue a program due to people liking it, they can just fund it anyway, and 3) government doesn't have to be "efficient" as they do not need to make a profit. So of the two, government is far more subject to abuse than private enterprise is, and therefore bears closer scrutiny. Written by kpf
on 11/10/2009
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"written by" how do you propose we finance government services? We could let big business take over all of duties of the government and watch the cost go out of sight. Business wants to make a profit, even, when it provides services to the government. And, as long as it can get away with it, it takes advantage of the governments inefficiency and over charges for the services it provides. Look at the profiteers that supply the defense department, for example. So, don't blame all of our problems on the government. There are a lot of people out there that really milk the system, because they can get away with it. and on and on. Written by Depends on your view.
on 11/10/2009
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Depends, Business (unlike most ignorant voters) realizes that government is all about taxing and that the insatiable appetite for money to fuel their programs must be fed. Business understands the cynical ploy of populist democrats that taxing business is some kind of Robin Hood thing to share the wealth. Government manipulates the system very well to confiscate as much of the nation's wealth as possible without reaching the tipping point of tax revolt. Without Homestead Exemption and tax withholding, the American people would realize just how much of their hard work goes to funding government and the real backlash would finally begin. Written by
on 11/10/2009
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Gosplan or State Planning Committee (Russian: Госпла́н, Russian pronunciation: [ɡɐsˈplan]) was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvennyi Komitet po Planirovaniyu (Russian: Государственный комитет по планированию, State Committee for Planning). One of its main duties was the creation of Five-Year Plans. Welcome to the Communist Revolution!
Written by
on 11/9/2009
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""""""New data recently released by the Tax Foundation reconfirms the fact that the residential property tax burden in Louisiana is the lowest in the nation."""""!?!?!?!?!????????? SFW???????? Hey, you all want to hear another scam aside from trying to tax homeowners to death? Someone gets arrested, for some chicken sh^t bullsh^t............ Gets 8 years, well, they send some of them to "LOUISIANA WORKS" programs, known in the instance of inmates as "A WORK RELEASE PROGRAM"... State places him or her in a job, in the morning they take the prisoner to work, go pick it up after work, puts it in its little jail cell.... State gets 1/2 the prisoners paycheck..... Meanwhile, a 'law abiding' person that isn't a prisoner has to hope its unemployment benefits don't run out before it can find a job that of course is already taken by a prisoner that forfits 1/2 its pay to the corrections system, and the corrections system also gets taxpayer funds as well..... You want to look at corruption, look at our justice system and our police system....... What a bunch of jackbooted thugs.... Then you can look at the Guv, and all of the above and all of the below.... What a shame.... Written by
on 11/9/2009
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Hurts LA no more than big tax credits for Business in Louisiana. Besides, any taxes paid by businesses are business expenses and passed on to their customers. And, where are the well paying jobs that they promise for these tax credits? Perhaps, in other countries? Even big business wants something for nothing. Written by Depends on your view.
on 11/9/2009
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Government in action. Divide and conquer. Taxes are fine as long as other people have to pay them, right. Until the majority of citizens and businesses band together to take back our country, the road to socialism will be paved with money from all our pockets. Written by
on 11/9/2009
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Property taxes means there is no private property, rather we rent from the government. Property taxes should be abolished, along with 90% of government programs. I'm disappointed in you disseminating this big government drivel, very disappointed. Written by Let 'em whine
on 11/9/2009
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