2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 47 — Revenue and taxation
RS 47:1517 — Tax exemption budget

§1517. Tax exemption budget

A. No later than the first day of March the secretary of the Department of Revenue shall prepare and submit to the governor and the legislature a tax exemption budget in the manner set forth in this Section.

B. The annual tax exemption budget shall include the following:

(1) Each tax exemption, its statutory citation, and its purpose.

(2) The revenue loss to the state caused by each tax exemption for the three preceding years, the estimated revenue loss to the state caused by each tax exemption for the current fiscal year, and the estimated revenue loss to the state caused by each tax exemption for the ensuing fiscal year.

(3) The estimated cost of administering and implementing each tax exemption for the three preceding fiscal years, the current fiscal year, and the ensuing fiscal year.

C. The annual tax exemption budget shall also include an assessment of each tax exemption based on the following criteria:

(1) Whether or not each tax exemption has been successful in meeting the purpose for which it was enacted, in particular, whether each tax exemption benefits those originally intended to be benefited, and if not, those who do benefit.

(2) Whether each tax exemption is the most fiscally effective means of achieving its purpose.

(3) Unintended or inadvertent effects, benefits, or harm caused by each tax exemption, including whether each tax exemption conflicts with other state laws or regulations.

(4) Whether each tax exemption simplifies or complicates the state tax statutes.

D. The Department of Revenue is authorized to request from any state or local agency or official any information necessary to complete the budget required by this Section. Any such official shall comply with this request.

E. "Tax exemptions" means those revenue losses attributable to provisions of the state tax statutes or rules promulgated pursuant to such statutes, which allow a special exclusion, exemption, or deduction from gross income or sales or which provide a special credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.

F. The House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, hereinafter referred to as "committees", shall conduct hearings on the tax exemption budget every odd-numbered year, to be concluded thirty days before the beginning of the regular session of the Louisiana Legislature. The committees shall analyze and consider tax exemptions which have caused revenue loss to the state of ten million dollars or more in any one of the last three fiscal years. From time to time, the committees may report to the legislature findings or recommendations developed as a result of the hearings.

Acts 1989, No. 836, §2, eff. July 1, 1989; Acts 1997, No. 658, §2; Acts 2011, No. 365, §1.