Do You Believe LA’s State Sales Tax is too High?

I'm not betting man but if I were, I'd say I already know your answer to the question posed in this headline.

Also, I am a betting man, just for the record, and I have no clue why I started this article that way but here we are.

The topic at hand is the state of Louisiana's sales tax. That sales tax is a cool 4.45%. Obviously, just looking at that number without context might make it seem like a small number. I mean, how much can 4.45% actually be?

Turns out, that number is actually pretty high when the look at the grand scope of things. How high is it? Well, to put it bluntly, only one state in the U.S. has a higher sales tax. That would be Tennessee, which has a whopping sales tax of 7%.

However, if you look just a little bit closer you'll see that Louisiana is actually right next to Tennessee. Here in LA, our localities can add up to 7%, bringing our state's sales tax combined average to 9.52%. Tennessee's combined average is higher by the slightest of margins, coming in at 9.55%.

All things considered, I think I agree with the majority of Louisianians that our state sales tax is just too high. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to pay taxes to our state, but looking at what every other state is paying, I wouldn't mind paying a little less.

I'm not alone. The 2021 Louisiana Survey found that the majority of residents in LA believe that sales tax is too high. The numbers, however, were closer that I would have expected. The report, which surveyed a little under 800 residents, found that 54% of LA residents agree with me. The majority believing our sales tax is too high was a bipartisan group. Among the Democrats, 53% thought the sales tax is too high, and 61% of  Republicans agreed.

So what do you think Shreveport-Bossier, is your sales tax too high?