Dubbed by Louisiana Legislators

Well folks I hope you don’t pass out when you get your next cable bill or video streaming service bill.

Apparently, Louisiana residents have been hooked winked by our Governor and legislators. The problem is I can’t figure out if it was deliberate or the result of 'mass confusion.'  During the last special legislative session our esteemed legislators, in an effort to fund Governor Landry’s so called ‘Louisiana Tax Overhaul,’ voted not only to keep the about to expire state 4.75% tax rate in place, but to increase it to 5% along with increasing the number of entities eligible for this taxation. 

Included in the increased taxation mix were video cable services like Cox, Spectrum, AT&T, etc., and streaming services like HBO Max, Disney, Netflix, Peacock, Paramount +, Amazon Prime, etc.

Something happen during the final passage of the legislation that resulted in specifying that these services be taxed at an additional 5%.  So instead of taxing these services at 5% as specified in the initial tax plan that included just more eligible items, the video services ended up being slapped with an additional 5% resulting in double taxation at a 10% rate.

The extent of this confusion was clearly on display when I called the Louisiana Department of Revenue and asked what the tax rate was on these services.  The initial reply by employees was 5%, the same figure as initially specified in the bill increasing the state sales tax from 4.75% to %5.

However, after I hung up the phone, I received an apologetic email saying that they misspoke because “upon further investigation” it was, in fact 10%.

I contacted, for obvious reasons, a nameless legislator’s office and was emphatically told the tax for the services in question was 5%. I then contacted my local rep, who was also surprised that streaming customers were paying a 10% sales tax rate

So, did Governor Landry cleverly plan this ‘bait and switch’ and hooked winked everyone in Baton Rouge, or were our esteem leaders simply ‘remiss’ for not knowing what was included in the Tax Reform legislative packages they were passing?

Guess it doesn’t really matter because their constituents have all been greatly harmed by their actions, resulting in double taxation on TV streaming services.  Good luck with