Louisiana voters to decide on amendment that would increase governments’ property tax flexibility

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - On Nov. 3, voters across Louisiana will have their say on a complicated proposed constitutional amendment that would give local governments flexibility related to property tax rate.

Amendment 2 is aimed at what some call the “use it or lose it” property tax rule and it is related to local taxing authorities.

“This gives flexibility to local governments to roll forward their millages in the future,” said Steven Procopio, president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, which did a review of Amendment 2.

Louisiana law requires properties to be reappraised at least every four years and adjustments be made to millages.

“So each assessor will do a reassessment,” said Procopio as he discussed a fictional example. “You can see before reassessment, the total assessed value was worth $100 million. After assessment, it’s worth $125 million. That’s just because the value of property went up.”

As part of reassessment process, millages are adjusted. They can be rolled forward to the maximum millage voters previously approved or maintain the lower rate.

“So before there’s another reassessment, you have to make this determination: Are you roll forwarding or not? If you decide to keep a lower rate, then you can’t come back in a future year and say, ‘Okay, we were wrong. We really need those 10 mills,’” Procopio said. “So it’s kind of a use it or lose it situation.”

If approved, Constitutional Amendment 2 would change that.

“So what the amendment does is it says, you can reassess at any point, or you can come back and raise your maximum millage rate at any point. You don’t have to do it within the four-year period,” Procopio said.

There are arguments for and against the proposed change to Louisiana’s constitution.

“The argument is that municipalities feel like this is an artificial restriction of four years, feels like they have pressure to go ahead and approve it now because they might need it sometime in the future. And you would actually keep the maximum tax rates lower if you didn’t force municipalities to make a decision now that may affect them four or eight years or 12 years down the line,” Procopio said.

The argument against the proposed change is that some believe you should lower taxes when you have a chance to lower taxes, according to Procopio.

Amendment 2 is one of 10 proposed amendments to Louisiana’s constitution on the November ballot. And Robert Collins, a Dillard University political analyst, thinks that presents challenges for the electorate.

“Right now, this is a tough political environment for amendments in general,” he said. “Number one, it’s a long ballot. A lot of people don’t really want to bother reading through all those amendments and trying to understand them. And those types of people will just vote no on all of them.”

To read PAR’s guide to 2026 Constitutional Amendments, click HERE.

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