A Gretna lawmaker has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would raise the homestead exemption in Louisiana by a third, from the current level of $75,000 to $100,000. Property owners in the state are currently exempt from paying property taxes on $75,000 of the value of their homes. Rep. Bryan Adams, a West Bank Republican, would exempt an additional $25,000 of a home’s value from tax assessments.
The bill would also tie the homestead exemption to the Consumer Price Index, meaning when the CPI rises, as it typically does with inflation, the homestead exemption would rise with it. The bill stipulates, however, that the homestead exemption would never be lower than $100,000.
The bill is likely to face strong opposition from the Louisiana Municipal Association, which represents local governments, as well as from individual mayors across the state due to the threat of sharply declining tax collections: Raising the homestead exemption by a third would cut by a third the amount of property taxes collected in cash-strapped cities and parishes.
Read the bill here.