By Will Hall, Message Editor
BATON ROUGE – Gov. John Bel Edwards signed House Bill 51 into law June 28 as Act 12 of the 2016 Second Extraordinary Session for the Louisiana Legislature, removing a number of taxes on church activities that were imposed in March as part of Acts 25 and 26 of the 2016 First Extraordinary Session.
Although Act 12 took effect July 1, the Louisiana Department of Revenue has yet to issue an official interpretation. However, legislators have said publicly this measure should fix the difficulties created for churches by the earlier action.
When the LDR releases its guidance, churches should anticipate relief from collecting taxes on such things as cake sales and auctions, which were tagged with special tax rates from April 1, 2016 – June 30, 2018.
HB 51 was offered by Rep. Jim Morris of whose District 1 office is in Oil City, but a number of legislators signed onto the bill as co-sponsors, including 58 representatives and two senators.
Rep. Rick Edmonds (District 66, Baton Rouge), a retired Louisiana Baptist pastor (Calvary Baptist Church in Shreveport) and former vice president with Louisiana Family Forum, was particularly aggressive in working this issue. He offered eight bills which were rolled into the final legislation reversing the taxes.
Church leaders should monitor BaptistMessage.com and LouisianaBaptists.org for updates. Meanwhile, Act 12 can be read at legis.la.gov by using the “Bills” dropdown menu, clicking on “2016 Second Extraordinary Session” and choosing “Bill Numbers to Acts” in the left margin of the subsequent page.
