In the last of a two-part conversation with Robert Travis Scott, the Public Affairs Research Council President shares an overview of Amendments 3 & 4 in Saturday's election.
Amendment 3 is aimed at providing new guidelines for legislation in a fiscal session.
"Rep. Julie Stokes had a number of bills that would have fixed tax collection and management issues," Scott says in providing background to the origin of the proposal. "What she found was that in a fiscal session, those items are actually considered general items. The amendment's language simplifies the constitution in defining tax issues that can be brought up in a fiscal session," said Scott.
Amendment 4 would allow local governments to collect property taxes within their jurisdictions that is owned by local or state governments outside of Louisiana.
"In West Carroll Parish, the municipality of Memphis was storing some gas inventory there," says Scott. However, the parish was not collecting any tax on storage. This item would close that loophole by allowing local jurisdictions to collect tax other municipalities in such a circumstance.
